snowburn

S1N1O1W4B3U1R1N1

noun

A form of sunburn caused by exposure to the sun's rays reflecting off of snow (as well as reaching the skin directly from the sun).

Scrabble 13

Meanings

nounsnowburn (countable and uncountable, plural snowburns)

plural snowburns

  1. countableuncountableA form of sunburn caused by exposure to the sun's rays reflecting off of snow (as well as reaching the skin directly from the sun).

    Snowburn, especially in the mountains and on glaciers, is much more severe than waterburn as from lakes, and waterburn, again, is severer than ordinary sunburn. […]

    1913, Edinburgh Medical Journal, volume 11, page 168
    2 more examples

    It is interesting to note that the affected areas in face and ears were the same regions well known to suffer from the reflected light in snowburn and waterburn. He had suffered previously from rosacea and the front of his face was still seborrheic, but with no keratosis, only freckling from light, which would seem to show that his skin was not predisposed to keratosis and that the long-continued exposure is its cause. […]

    1913, New York Journal of Homœopathy, volume 41, page 32

    7 wild-life preserves, 33 national forests, 9 Indian reservations, 10 reclamation, power, and flood-control projects, 8 state parks, and several mines, museums, biological stations, memorials, bridges and dams. Other experiences included desert heat, mountain snow-storms, rain and hail, mosquito bites, sunburn, snowbum, waterbum, sea-sickness, and bus and boat breakdowns. All in all, it was an extremely interesting, but busy (too busy!) trip, overwhelmingly full of magnificent sights and rich experiences with many aspects of nature […]

    1956, Iowa Academy of Science, The Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, page 232

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

snowburn. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snowburn

MLA

“snowburn.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snowburn. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “snowburn,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snowburn.

Source: snowburn on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.