Etymology

snarl

S1N1A1R1L1

Today it means: To entangle; to complicate; to involve in knots. Full definition →

Middle English snarlen
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snarl · verb, noun1

  1. Middle English · inherited fromsnarlen
  2. English todaysnarl

From Middle English snarlen, frequentative of snaren (“to trap, tangle”). Equivalent to snare + -le.

snarl · verb, noun2

  1. Middle Low German · borrowed fromsnorren“to drone”
  2. English todaysnarl

Frequentative of earlier snar (“to growl”), perhaps from Middle Low German snorren (“to drone”), of probably imitative origin. Equivalent to snar + -le. Related to German schnarren (“to rattle”) and schnurren (“to hum, buzz”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.