nivi-, niv-, niva-, nivos-

(Latin: snow, snowy, snowiness)

A Greek equivalent is located at this nipho- unit.

nival
1. Pertaining to snow.
2. Growing in or under the snow as certain plants.
3. Relating to or living in a snowy environment.
4. Characterized by snow or a snowy environment.
nivation
1. Erosion of the land surface by the action of snow.
2. The erosion of rock or soil beneath a snowbank or snow patch and along its fluctuating margins, due to frost action in conjunction with other processes such as chemical weathering and solifluction.
3. Erosion of the ground beneath and at the sides of a snowbank, mainly as a result of alternate freezing and thawing.
niveal
In hydrology, of or relating to features and effects resulting from the action of snow and ice.
niveoglacial
Pertaining to the combined action of snow and ice.
niveolian
In hydrology, of, related to, or caused by the simultaneous accumulation and intermixing of snow and airborne sand at the side of a gentle slope.
niveous
1. Resembling snow in color; snow-white.
2. Snowy; resembling snow, especially in whiteness; partaking of the qualities of snow.
nivicole (verb), nivicoles; nivicoled; nivicoling: snow
Living in snow or snow-covered habitats.
Nivose
1. The fourth month of the French revolutionary calendar, extending (in 1793 to 1794) from 21 December to 19 January; literally, "month of snow"; coined by Fabre d'Églantine in 1793.
2. The month was named after the Latin word nivosus, meaning "snow, snowy".

According to Fabre d'Églantine: "In Nivôse, earth is sealed and usually covered with snow. At this time earth is resting and there are no herbal agriculture products to characterize this month. We rather took names of animal and mineral substances of agricultural use."

—Philippe François Nazaire Fabre d'Églantine (commonly known as Fabre d'Églantine; July 28, 1750–April 5, 1794) was a French actor, dramatist, and politician of the French Revolution.

The poet Fabre d'Eglantine created poetic names for the months to match the seasons in which they occurred:

  1. Vendémiaire, vintage month
  2. Brumaire, fog month
  3. Frimaire, sleet month
  4. Nivôse, snow month
  5. Pluviôse, rain month
  6. Ventôse, wind month
  7. Germinal, seed month
  8. Floréal, blossom month
  9. Prairial, pasture month
  10. Messidor, harvest month
  11. Thermidor, heat month
  12. Fructidor, fruit month
  13. Sansculottides, additional days

Within the decade sections of the calendar, the days were given names with respect to their positions:

  1. primidi
  2. duodi
  3. tridi
  4. quartidi
  5. quintidi
  6. sextidi
  7. septidi
  8. octidi
  9. nonidi
  10. décadi
—Holger Oertel, http://www.ortelius.de/kalender/fr_en.php.

nivosity
Snowiness.