Most people, who speak English, in the world today have a similar understanding of the word nice. We would use it in the sense that something is pleasing, polite, agreeable, or respectable. Someone's mother might state that "he's a nice boy" or "she's a nice girl". For most this would be considered a compliment, unless, of course, your mother is trying to act as a matchmaker. Nice is a word that most people like to have associated with them. Nice people are much more likeable than mean people, and overall, being nice is a very good trait.
             Just because being nice is an enviable trait now that has not always been the case. From the first recorded use of the word until today it's meaning has constantly changed. Over the centuries it has been used as an adjective, an adverb, and a noun. In the Old English Dictionary there are over seventeen recorded definitions of the word nice, and over twelve different spellings of the same word. Some examples of those spellings are nyce,nys,nyse, nies, and nist. The word is definitely still is use today, but there are many uses of the word that have become obsolete over time. Originally, the word was Old French, but when English became the dominant language, the word was both adopted and adapted to our language. Unfortunately, the development of this particular word is extremely hard to track. Unlike some other words of the English language, such as starve, is was not always easy to decide which way a writer meant for the word to be interpreted.
             The first recorded use of this word meant "foolish, stupid, or senseless". From the years 1290-1557 this was one of the more prevalent meanings of the word nice, especially in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This meaning greatly differs from todays meaning. It is extremely derogatory. A quote using this particular meaning occurs in the year 1450. " Lovelich Grail xlii.
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