sleet
n.n. a mix of rain and ice that falls from the sky. It is usually light and can make the roads very slippery.
n. a form of precipitation consisting of a mixture of rain and ice pellets. Often used to describe a light, icy rain that falls in a fine spray.
The sleet made the roads very dangerous for drivers.
As the temperature dropped, the rain turned into a steady sleet that coated the sidewalks in a thin layer of ice.
The sudden transition from rain to sleet caught the local authorities off guard, leading to a significant increase in traffic accidents during the morning commute.
From Middle English slete, probably from Old English slēte, slȳte, slīete, from Proto-West Germanic slautijā, from Proto-Germanic *slautijǭ (“sleet”). Walter W. Skeat, the author of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, suggests Old Norse slydda (whence Danish slud (“mixture of rain and snow”)). The word appears to be akin to Low German Sloot (“hail”), dialectal German Schloße (“large hailstone”), Old Gutnish sloyta (“slush, sleet”). Doublet of slut.