sneak

The story

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*snīkaną“to creep, crawl”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*snīkan
3. Old English · inherited fromsnīcan“to creep, crawl”
4. Middle English · inherited fromsniken“to creep, crawl”
5. English todaysneak

Possibly from Middle English sniken (“to creep, crawl”), from Old English snīcan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *snīkan, from Proto-Germanic *snīkaną (“to creep, crawl”), of sound-symbolic origin; compare formally unrelated snake, snoop, snook, snoke, and snoot. Cognate with Danish snige (“to sneak”), Swedish snika (“to sneak, hanker after”), Icelandic sníkja (“to sneak, hanker after”). Possibly related to snitch.

Words from the same roots