The Meaning of Snowflake: What It Is and How To Use It

What is a snowflake? How is it used as an insult or as a noun? This article provides all of the necessary information on the meaning of snowflake.

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Snowflake has many different meanings — some more innocuous than others. Take a look at this guide to the meaning of snowflake so you don’t accidentally end up using it incorrectly.

What Does the Word Snowflake Mean?

The word snowflake is a slang term that refers to someone who is overly sensitive and easily offended. The implication of this name is often a politicized insult from right-wingers against liberals. People who use this insult believe the left is too soft and think they are each a unique snowflake. Calling someone a snowflake implies weakness.

Snowflakes also refer to a falling mass of small thin delicate arrangements of ice crystals. This is a literal flake of snow or a crystal of snow. They have six points and form a mirror image. This word can also refer to a flower from the various European amaryllidaceous plants of the genus Leucojum, like the spring snowflake of the white nodding bell. 

The pronunciation of snowflake is ˈsnəʊˌfleɪk.

What Are Translations of the Word Snowflake?

While the slang term snowflake may not have any direct translations, there are plenty of ways to discuss frozen precipitation falling from the sky. This list of translations can help you discuss weather in other languages:

  • Spanish: copo de nieve‎ (masc.), ampo‎ (masc.)
  • Luxembourgish: Schnéiflack‎ (fem.)
  • Greek: νιφάδα‎ (fem.)
  • Latvian: sniegpārsla‎ (fem.)
  • Yup’ik: qanuk‎
  • Ido: nivofloko‎
  • Macedonian: снегулка‎ (fem.)
  • Swedish: snöflinga‎ (common)
  • Romanian: fulg‎ (masc.), fulg de zăpadă‎ (masc.), fulg de nea‎ (masc.)
  • Galician: folerpa‎ (fem.)
  • Mongolian: цасан ширхэг‎
  • Khmer: ល្អងព្រិល‎ (lo-orng pril)
  • Korean: 눈송이‎
  • Shor: қарчақ‎ (qarçaq)
  • Arabic: رُقَاقَة اَلثَّلْج‎
  • Breton: fulenn erc’h (fem.) fulennoù erc’h pl., malzenn erc’h (fem.) -où erc’h pl.
  • Russian: снежи́нка‎ (fem.)
  • Lakota: ičháȟota‎
  • German: Schneeflocke‎ (fem.)
  • Slovak: snehové páperie‎ (neut.), snehová vločka‎ (fem.)
  • Malay: daun salji‎
  • Japanese: 雪花‎ (せっか, sekka), 雪片‎ (せっぺん, seppen)
  • Portuguese: floco de neve‎ (masc.), folheca‎ (fem.)
  • Armenian: ձյան փաթիլ‎
  • Albanian: flok bore‎ (masc.)
  • Dutch: sneeuwvlok‎ (fem.)
  • Hebrew: פתית–שלג‎
  • Lithuanian: snaigė‎ (fem.)
  • Belarusian: сняжы́нка‎ (fem.)
  • Saterland Frisian: Sneeflokke‎ (fem.)
  • Ukrainian: сніжи́нка‎ (fem.)
  • Danish: snefnug‎
  • Southern Altai: карычак‎ (karıçak)
  • Manx: floag‎ (fem.), floag niaghtee‎ (fem.), lhiannag niaghtee‎ (fem.)
  • Georgian: ფანტელი‎
  • Polish: płatek śniegu (masc.)
  • Welsh: pluen eira‎ (fem.)
  • Maori: kapu‎
  • Navajo: shoh dikʼání‎
  • Interlingua: flocco de neve‎

What Is the Etymology of the Word Snowflake?

According to Dictionary, the word snowflake was first used in the early 1860s during the Civil War. In Missouri, people who were pro-slavery were called snowflakes. Both Black people and white people who opposed the abolition of slavery were called snowflakes, since they valued white people over Black people.

This term evolved as time passed and was used in the 1970s to refer to a Black person who was acting “too white.” This insult was later popularized in Fight Club, a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk, and its 1999 film adaptable. In the film, snowflakes are people who think they’re special, beautiful, and unique — but aren’t.

As the 2000s went on, snowflake became an insult online to tease entitled and privileged young people who are easily offended. Young adults in the 2010s were teased for being softer than previous generations. In the late 2010s, the terms generation snowflake and snowflake generation emerged following a Yale University dispute over culturally appropriative Halloween costumes.

Now, snowflake is predominantly used by the conservative far-right and alt-right groups who attempt to troll liberals for their politics and social justice. This usage only increased with political events like Brexit in the UK and the election of Donald Trump.

The slang term is very popular and has even been used in a Saturday Night Live skit featuring a Trump-loving dog and the actor George Takei. 

According to The Independent, a marketing company even gave potential candidates a “snowflake test” to assess the candidate’s stance politically. Liberal candidates and anti-Trump voters were weeded out in large numbers furing the hiring process.

How Can the Word Snowflake Be Used in a Sentence?

Below are examples of how the word snowflake can be used as a slang insult or to describe precipitation. 

The police disagreed with the protesters, calling them liberal snowflakes. They were protected under free speech. 

The Trump supporters, right-wingers, and liberals of all ages lobbed insults back and forth; snowflake this, racist that. No matter the epithet of choice, things got ugly.

The woman took the insult snowflake as a compliment and a matter of opinion. If they thought she was a flake of snow, she would show them how her fragility and emotional nature could benefit the actions of others.

The reindeer had lingering morning snowflakes stuck to his beautiful antlers. They melted as temperatures reached the mid-40s, and the dusting turned to a drizzle. 

The school officials read the text messages in horror. The student called his classmates “little snowflake justice warriors” and “little weak-*ss narcissists,” repeatedly using the snowflake emoji and peach emoji.

What Are Synonyms of the Word Snowflake?

Below are related words for snowflake that we can use in its place from Power Thesaurus:

  • avalanche
  • blizzard
  • crystal
  • driven snow
  • flake
  • flakes
  • fleck
  • flurry
  • frost
  • frozen vapor
  • ice
  • milksop
  • plectrophenax nivalis
  • powder snow
  • sleet
  • slush
  • snow
  • snow blanket
  • snow bunting
  • snow crystal
  • snowball
  • snowbank
  • snowbird
  • snowdrift
  • snowfall
  • snowflakes
  • snowland
  • snowman
  • snows
  • snowscape
  • snowstorm

Conclusion

Overall, the word snowflake is used as a slang term to refer to someone who is overly soft and thinks they’re special. People can also use this to refer to the bulbous perennial plants of the genus Leucojum like the white bell and other white flowers of the amaryllis family. Finally, snowflake describes iciness that falls from the sky. 

Sources:

  1. Snowflake Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
  2. Snowflake synonyms – 271 Words and Phrases for Snowflake | Power Thesaurus 
  3. What does the term snowflake mean and why is it used? | The Independent