# Origin of the word ‘Nippy’
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 10, 2000, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571 "2000-11-10T01:34:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/1 "2000-11-10T01:34:19Z")
I heard it once again as I listened to the local weather forecast- “Boy is it gonna be nippy tonight”. I also, once again, immediately started thinking of nipples- woman’s nipples.
I’ll assume my heads in the gutter and the two are not linked together, but I can’t find an explanation on the origin of the word.
Nippy doesn’t meant what I think it does, does it?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/2 "2000-11-10T02:22:20Z")
Well, a nip is a little bite; as when a dog nips you. You’ve heard of “biting cold”? If it’s “nippy”, then it’s not extremely cold (i.e., not “biting”); just cold enough for a little bite.
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### Author:  [@Wrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrath)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/3 "2000-11-10T02:24:12Z")
Perhaps as a dog might nip at your heels, so the frost nips and bites at your nose and other extremities…
Perhaps. of course, being a guy, I go with your initial instinct.
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### Author:  [@Wrath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrath)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/4 "2000-11-10T02:25:18Z")
You beat me to it Johnny
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### Author:  [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/5 "2000-11-10T05:17:44Z")
Little bite… Nipples… 😃
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### Author:  [@JoeyBlades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyBlades)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/6 "2000-11-10T15:06:03Z")
I think it comes from “Jack Frost nipping at your nose”.
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### Author:  [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/7 "2000-11-10T15:11:27Z")
Hmm. I guess that makes sense. Thanks.
By the way, looking around for other definitions for nipple, I found this nugget- ‘NIPPLE’- “A natural or geographic projection resembling a nipple, as a mountain crest.”
I can’t wait to use that one next time I’m skiing.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/8 "2000-11-10T16:19:29Z")
Well, if you go to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to ski, you can gaze on the Grand Tetons and see whether they have nipples.
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### Author:  [@tomas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomas)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/9 "2000-11-10T17:54:03Z")
As a matter of fact, it is rather nippley out right now where I live. D)
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### Author:  [@tomas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomas)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/10 "2000-11-10T17:55:49Z")
D), Sorry
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/11 "2000-11-10T17:57:01Z")
Offensive old vaudeville joke coming in for a landing:
Pat: “Why is autumn like a Japanese tumbling act?”
Mike: “Because there’s always a little nip in the air!”
[they dance off to the tune of “Has Anybody here Seen Kelly?”]
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### Author:  [@Mr.Sheepshead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Sheepshead)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/12 "2000-11-10T18:10:43Z")
Lest you think it’s just male fascination with words like ‘nip’ and ‘tit’, I used to have a girlfriend who would always say “CWI” (Cold Weather Indicators) or “HAT” (Hard-Ass Titties) when she went outside in the cold. Made me think twice about the origin of nippy.
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### Author:  [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2000, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-nippy/40571/13 "2000-11-10T22:38:14Z")
Dammit! Shouldn’t Jimmy Nipples be posting here???