sooterkin

S1O1O1T1E1R1K5I1N1

noun

A mouse-like creature which, according to folklore, Dutch women who sit over stoves give birth to.

OriginDutch zoeterke(n) →
Scrabble 13
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Meanings

nounsooterkin (plural sooterkins)

plural sooterkins

  1. A mouse-like creature which, according to folklore, Dutch women who sit over stoves give birth to.
  2. figurativelyAn abortive scheme.

    Fruits of dull heat, and sooterkins of wit.

    1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC
  3. colloquialA Dutch person.

Origin

  1. Dutchzoeterke(n)“sweatheart”
  2. Englishsooterkin

From dialectal Dutch zoeterke(n) (“sweatheart”) (compare zoetje, zoetke (“sweetheart”)), equivalent to sweet + -kin or soot + -kin.

More words from Dutch

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

stinkeroo
Cite this entry
APA

sooterkin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sooterkin

MLA

“sooterkin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sooterkin. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sooterkin,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sooterkin.

Source: sooterkin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.