A Snowflake
<ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2.25em; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">A <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/crystal" title="crystal" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">crystal</a> of <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/snow" title="snow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">snow</a>, having approximate <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/hexagonal" title="hexagonal" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">hexagonal</a> <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/symmetry" title="symmetry" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">symmetry</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-OED_1-3" class="reference" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; background: none; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/snowflake#cite_note-OED-1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">[1]</a></sup></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">Any of several <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/bulbous" title="bulbous" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">bulbous</a> <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/European" title="European" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">European</a> <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/plant" title="plant" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">plants</a>, of the genus <span class="biota" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Leucojum" class="extiw" title="wikispecies:Leucojum" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">Leucojum</i></a></span>, having white flowers.<sup id="cite_ref-OED_1-4" class="reference" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; background: none; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/snowflake#cite_note-OED-1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">[1]</a></sup></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">The <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/snow_bunting" title="snow bunting" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">snow bunting</a>, <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Plectrophenax_nivalis" title="Plectrophenax nivalis" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">Plectrophenax nivalis</a></i>.<sup id="cite_ref-OED_1-5" class="reference" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; background: none; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/snowflake#cite_note-OED-1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">[1]</a></sup></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">(</span><span class="ib-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#slang" title="Appendix:Glossary" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">slang</a><span class="ib-comma" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">,</span> <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/derogatory" title="derogatory" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">derogatory</a></span><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">)</span> Someone who believes they are as <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/unique" title="unique" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">unique</a> and <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/special" title="special" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">special</a> as a snowflake; someone hypersensitive to insult or offense, especially a young person with <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/politically_correct" title="politically correct" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">politically correct</a> sensibilities. </li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">Someone (usually white) who was opposed to the abolition of slavery (Missouri, 1860s) <sup id="cite_ref-Webster_2-0" class="reference" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.75em; background: none; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/snowflake#cite_note-Webster-2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">[2]</a></sup></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">(</span><span class="ib-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/ophthalmology" title="ophthalmology" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">ophthalmology</a></span><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">)</span> A type of <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/lesion" title="lesion" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">lesion</a> that appears as scattered white-brown spots under high <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/magnification" title="magnification" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">magnification</a> light <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/microscopy" title="microscopy" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">microscopy</a>. </li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">Something that is unique in every presentation. </li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: inherit; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">(</span><span class="ib-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#slang" title="Appendix:Glossary" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">slang</a><span class="ib-comma" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">,</span> usually derogative</span><span class="ib-brac" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">)</span> A <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Caucasian" title="Caucasian" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">Caucasian</a> person.</li></ol><h4 class="in-block" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; display: table; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="mw-headline" id="Usage_notes" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: middle; background: none; display: table-cell; width: 296px;">Usage notes</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: middle; background: none; display: table-cell;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=snowflake&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Usage notes" data-section="6" class="mw-ui-icon mw-ui-icon-element mw-ui-icon-minerva-edit-enabled edit-page mw-ui-icon-flush-right" style="margin: 0px -0.75em 0px 0px; padding: 0.75em; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 0; font-family: inherit; font-size: initial; vertical-align: middle; background: none transparent; color: transparent; hyphens: none; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis; position: relative; display: inline-block; width: 1.25em; height: 1.25em; min-width: 1.25em; min-height: 1.25em; flex-basis: 1.25em; overflow: hidden; -webkit-appearance: none; border-radius: 2px; transition: background-color 100ms ease 0s; box-sizing: content-box !important;">Edit</a></span></h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">The pejorative sense of "an overly sensitive person" arose from a still-common misconception that no two snowflakes are alike. "Snowflake" as a derogatory term was popularized by its use in the 1996 novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_Club_(novel)" class="extiw" title="w:Fight Club (novel)" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;">Fight Club</i></a>, by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Palahniuk" class="extiw" title="w:Chuck Palahniuk" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">Chuck Palahniuk</a> (see quotation above), but the insult had existed for a significant amount of time prior to this, although not in popular use. In recent years, the meaning has expanded from "a person who believes they are unique" to also denote someone who is too sensitive and is easily offended, based on conceptions of snowflakes' <span class="Latn" lang="en" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/fragility#English" title="fragility" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">fragility</a></span> and <span class="Latn" lang="en" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/weakness#English" title="weakness" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background: none; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); hyphens: none;">weakness</a></span>.</p>