snowflake
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: noun/1
Snowflake refers to a single visible piece of falling snow, usually with a delicate six-sided crystal structure. An ice crystal is the scientific term for the microscopic hexagonal lattice that forms within a cloud, and many ice crystals clump together to make a snowflake. Flake alone can mean a snowflake but also applies to other thin, flat pieces (e.g., a flake of paint or cereal). Snow is the uncountable mass noun for all frozen precipitation covering the ground or falling from the sky. You would say "The children played in the snow" but not "The children played in the snowflakes" — snowflakes are individual units, snow is the collective substance.
Common collocations
Nouns
- snowflake generation
- snowflake pattern
- snowflake ornament
- snowflake design
Phrases
- as unique as a snowflake
- no two snowflakes are alike
- snowflake generation
Etymology
The word comes from Old English snāw (snow) combined with flaca (a tuft or piece of wool). The literal meaning — a small piece of falling snow — dates back to the 13th century. The modern pejorative senses (overly sensitive person, and separately, a gay slur) emerged in the 21st century. The 'easily offended' sense grew out of the phrase 'special snowflake,' which was used sarcastically online from the 1990s onward, and became widespread in political discourse after the 2016 US elections. The homophobic slur sense is independent and likely older, though its origins are unclear.