Middle English (in the sense 'stupid'): from Old French, from Latin nescius 'ignorant', from nescire 'not know'. Other early senses included 'coy, reserved', giving rise to 'fastidious, scrupulous': this led both to the sense 'fine, subtle' (regarded by some as the ‘correct’ sense), and to the main current senses.

• In medieval English nice meant ‘foolish, silly, ignorant’, from its Latin source nescius ‘ignorant’. It developed a range of largely negative senses, from ‘dissolute’, ‘ostentatious, showy’, ‘unmanly, cowardly’, and ‘delicate, fragile’ to ‘strange, rare’, and ‘coy, reserved’. In Love's Labour Lost Shakespeare talks of ‘nice wenches’, meaning ‘disreputable women’. The word was first used in the more positive sense ‘fine or subtle’ (as in a nice distinction) in the 16th century, and the current main meanings, ‘pleasant’ and ‘kind’, seem to have been in common use from the mid 18th century. This example from a letter written in 1769 sounds very contemporary: ‘I intend to dine with Mrs. Borgrave, and in the evening to take a nice walk.’ The development of the word's senses from negative to positive is similar to that of pretty. Nice guys finish last is credited to Leo Durocher, manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team from 1951 to 1954. In his 1975 autobiography Nice Guys Finish Last he is quoted as saying of a rival team: ‘Take a look at them. All nice guys. They'll finish last. Nice guys. Finish last.’