blizzard

English

Etymology

Unknown

etymology theories

Possibly from Blizzard, a surname dating back to the 1700's(?). The earliest known use of blizzard as a term was in the Estherville, Iowa, Northern Vindicator on 23 April 1870. One week later it appeared again in the same newspaper, only with the now common double-z spelling. Best evidence is that the word was coined in that area of Iowa some years prior to this use. The blizzard surname possibly comes from the blizzard one, dating back to the 1500's(?). The word blizzard was used (not in relation to the weather) in America in the early 1800s. It meant a "sharp blow or knock; a shot" (usually gunfire) and later shifted meaning. Probably from the German blitzartig (“very fast, like a lightning”)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈblɪz.əd/, X-SAMPA: /"blIz.@d/

Noun

blizzard (plural blizzards)

1. A severe snowstorm, especially with strong winds and greatly reduced visibility.
2. (figuratively) A large amount of paperwork.
3. (figuratively) A large number of similar things, such as a blizzard of political ads.

Coordinate terms

• flurry

Translations

severe snowstorm

• Armenian: ձնաբուք (hy) (jnabukʿ)
• Bashkir: буран (buran)
• Basque: bisuts (eu)
• Bulgarian: виелица (bg) (viélica) f, фъртуна (bg) (fǎrtúna) f
• Catalan: torb (ca) m, rufaga (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 暴風雪 (cmn), 暴风雪 (cmn) (bàofēngxuě), 大風雪 (cmn), 大风雪 (cmn) (dàfēngxuě)

• Czech: blizard (cs) m, sněhová bouře (cs) f, sněhová vichřice (cs) f, vánice (cs) f, metelice (cs) f, chumelenice (cs) f
• Danish: snestorm (da) c
• Finnish: myräkkä (fi), lumimyrsky (fi), pyry (fi)
• French: blizzard (fr) m
• Georgian: ქარბუქი (ka) (k'arbuk'i)
• German: Schneesturm (de) m, Blizzard (de) m
• Greek: χιονοθύελλα (el) (chionothýella) f
• Hungarian: hóvihar (hu)
• Ido: nivegoza tempesto (io)
• Irish: síobadh sneachta (ga) m
• Italian: tormenta (it), bufera di neve (it)
• Japanese: 猛吹雪 (ja) (もうふぶき, mōfubuki)

• Kannada: ಹಿಮಪಾತ (kn) (himapāta)
• Latin: nigor (la) m
• Mongolian: цасан шуурга (mn) (tsasan šuurga)
• Navajo: chííl bił hááyoł
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: snøstorm (no) m
• Persian: کولاک (fa) (kulâk), بوران (fa) (burân)
• Polish: zamieć (pl) f, zadymka (pl) f, śnieżyca (pl) f, blizzard (pl) m
• Portuguese: nevão (pt) m, nevasca (pt) f
• Romanian: viscol (ro) m, vifor (ro) m
• Russian: буран (ru) (burán) m, пурга (ru) (purgá) f, вьюга (ru) (vʹjúga) f, метель (ru) (metél') f, снежная буря (ru) (snéžnaja búrja) f
• Scottish Gaelic: cathadh (gd) m, cathadh-sneachda (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мѐћава (sh) f

  Roman: mèćava (sh) f

• Slovene: blizzard (sl) m
• Spanish: ventisca (es) f, tempestad de nieve (es)
• Turkish: tipi (tr)
• Welsh: lluwchwynt (cy)

figuratively: large amount of paperwork

• Finnish: vuori (mountain)
• Greek: χαρτομάνι (el) (chartománi) n

• Polish: nawał (pl) m, nawała (pl) f
• Portuguese: montanha (pt) f, monte (pt) m

large number of similar things

• Finnish: vyöry (landslide)
• Greek: θύελλα (el) (thýella) f

• Polish: nawał (pl) m, nawała (pl) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: petir, geledek, halilintar

• Slovene: metež m (1)

Verb

blizzard (third-person singular simple present blizzards, present participle blizzarding, simple past and past participle blizzarded) (impersonal)

1. (of snow) To fall in windy conditions