Etymology

sneer

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Today it means: To raise a corner of the upper lip slightly, especially in scorn. Full definition →

Middle English sneren ← Old English fnǣran ← Proto-West Germanic *fnāʀijan
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*fnesaną“to pant, gasp”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*fnāʀijan
  3. Old English · inherited fromfnǣran“to snort”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromsneren“to mock, scoff at”
  5. English todaysneer

From Middle English sneren (“to mock, scoff at”), from Old English fnǣran (“to snort”), from Proto-West Germanic *fnāʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *fnesaną (“to pant, gasp”). Akin to North Frisian sneere (“to scorn”), Middle High German snerren (“to chatter; gossip”), Danish snerre (“to growl, snarl”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.