Etymology

snot

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Today it means: Mucus, especially mucus from the nose. Full definition →

Middle English snot ← Old English ġesnot ← Proto-Germanic *snuttuz
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic*snuttuz
  2. Old Englishġesnot
  3. Middle Englishsnot
  4. English todaysnot

From Middle English snot, snotte, from Old English ġesnot, *snott, from Proto-West Germanic *snott, *snutt, from Proto-Germanic *snuttuz (“nasal mucus”), from the same base as snout; ultimately of onomatopoeic or sound-symbolic origin (compare sniff, snuff, snoot, snook), but possibly continuing Proto-Indo-European *snew-t- (“to flow, run”). Related also to snite. Cognate with North Frisian snot (“snot”), Saterland Frisian Snotte (“snot”), West Frisian snotte (“snot”), Dutch snot (“snot”), German Low German Snött (“snot”), dialectal German Schnutz (“snot”), Danish snot (“snot”), Norwegian snott (“snot”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.