Etymology

snivel

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Today it means: To breathe heavily through the nose while it is congested with nasal mucus. Full definition →

Middle English snivelen ← Old English *snyflan ← Proto-West Germanic *snuflijan
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*snuflijan
  2. Old English · inherited from*snyflan
  3. Middle English · inherited fromsnivelen
  4. English todaysnivel

From Middle English snivelen, snevelen, snyvelen, snuvelen, from Old English *snyflan (attested in the verbal noun snyflung (“mucus”)), from Proto-West Germanic *snuflijan, related to Old English snofl (“mucus”), ultimately from the root of snout. Akin to sniff, snuff. Compare sniffle. Cognate with Middle Low German snuffelen, snüffelen (“to sniff, smell”), Danish snøvle (“to sniffle, snivel”), Norwegian Nynorsk snuvla (“to sniffle, snivel”), Swedish snövla (“to sniffle, snivel”). Compare typologically Russian сопе́ть (sopétʹ), сопля́ (sopljá) akinness.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.