noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A tall thin blade of hardened snow or ice, found closely spaced in large quantities at high altitudes.

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish penitente, from the resemblance to white-hooded monks. Doublet of penitent.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.