Meaning

noun a city in southeastern France on the Mediterranean; the leading resort on the French Riviera

adjective pleasant or pleasing or agreeable in nature or appearance; - George Meredith

adjective socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous

originBorrowed from French Nice, from Latin Nīcaea, from Ancient Greek Νῑ́καια (Nī́kaia), named for a 4th-century-BCE victory of its colonizing Phocaean Greeks over local Ligurians, probably the Vediantii, from νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, “-ia: forming place names”). Doublet of Iznik and Nicaea.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0