snack

Pronunciation

• IPA: /snæk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English snaken (“to bite, snap”), probably borrowed from Middle Dutch snacken (“to snap at, bite, chatter”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a variant of snappen (see snap), perhaps imitative.^[4][6] Etymonline also allows a northern variant of snatch influenced by Scandinavian words.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a dog, to bite or snap: about 1300.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a bite or snap, is from 1402,^[2][7] and a snappish remark from 1555.^[7] A share or portion is from the 1680s, as in to go snacks, to share profits.^[3][7] A small amount of liquor is from 1685,^[7] and a mere bite of food, a light meal, from 1726 or 1757.^[3][2][7] The verb, to eat a light meal, is first recorded in 1807, in a travel book.^[2] Snack bar is from 1923, and the trade spelling snax from 1942.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to snap (of a dog).^[2]
• 1402 – a snap, bite (noun).^[2][7]
• 1680s – a share.^[3]
• 1726 – a light meal.^[3]
• 1807 – to snack (verb).^[2]
• 1923 – snack bar.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A light, quick meal, eaten between or instead of main meals.
2. Food eaten between meals.
3. (rare) A share.

Verb

1. To eat a light meal or food between meals.

Word family

• snacker
• snack bar

Related words

• snap
• snatch

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press