Back to explorer

entry

snack

/snæk/

A small amount of food eaten between meals

From Proto-Germanic *snakkōną (To smack the lips).

noun
verb
*snakkōną
Proto-Germanic
Verified
*snakkōną
reconstructed
Reconstructed as ‘smack one’s lips,’ ‘open one’s mouth to eat,’ or ‘snatch with the mouth.’

from Proto-Germanic *snakkōną (“to smack one's lips, open one's mouth to eat; to snatch (with one's mouth?), snack...

Middle Dutch
Verified
snacken
‘To snack’; also associated with snapping or snatching.

from Middle Dutch snacken (“to snack”), possibly

English
AI-inferred
snack
The noun came to mean a small bite or light meal; the food sense is attested by 1807.
Modern English
snack
“

The history of snack begins with a mouth in motion: a bite, a snap, perhaps the quick grab of a dog’s teeth. Middle Dutch snacken meant “to snack,” and Wiktionary links it to a reconstructed Proto-Germanic verb for smacking the lips or opening the mouth to eat. English snack was recorded around 1300 as a verb meaning “to bite or snap,” while the familiar food meaning—a small bite or light meal—is attested by 1807. The path is not entirely settled: one account connects the verb with Scandinavian forms and snatch, while another emphasizes Middle Dutch and related Germanic words. So the snack on your plate carries an old sound-effect of eating: first the snap of a mouth, then the little meal.

§