Etymology

snirt

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Today it means: To give a suppressed laugh or sharp intake of breath. Full definition →

Middle English snurten ← Old English fnǣrettan
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snirt · verb, noun1

  1. Old English · inherited fromfnǣrettan
  2. Middle English · inherited from*snyrten
  3. Middle English · inherited fromsnurten“to sneer; snort, snore”
  4. English todaysnirt

Origin uncertain. Either from Middle English snurten (“to sneer; snort, snore”), a variation of snorten (“to snort”); or from Middle English *snyrten, an alteration of fnyrten, fnerten, from Old English fnǣrettan. Compare also Norwegian snurt (“vexed, peevish”), Middle English snirt (“stern, gloomy”).

snirt · noun2

Blend of snow + dirt.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.