Etymologically
Log in

snag

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 00:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is probably of early Scandinavian origin,[2][3][4][5][6][7] compare dialectal Norwegian snag (“sharp point, projection, stump, spike”) and snage,[2][4][8] Old Norse snagi (“clothes peg”),[5][4][8] snaga (“a kind of axe”)[5][4] and snaghyrndr (“sharp-pointed, of an axe”).[2][5][9] Etymonline sees the common notion as a sharp projecting point.[5] Merriam-Webster connects it probably with snatch as well.[10] Johnson (1755) knew no etymology for it.[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short stump standing out from a tree trunk or branch: 1577–87, in Holinshed's Chronicles.[2][4] Etymonline dates it to the 1570s.[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1586 it meant any sharp or jagged projection,[2][4][5] as in the staff "all full of little snags" of the Fairy Queen, which Johnson quoted,[11] and it was used for a broken or uneven tooth (1617)[2] and for a short tine of a deer's antler (1673).[2] The canting dictionary of about 1698 glossed snaggs as large teeth.[12] In America the old sense of a projecting stump gave a tree or branch fixed in a riverbed, dangerous to boats: Barnhart finds it in 1804, in Clark's writings in the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition,[4] and the OED in 1807.[2] From this came the figurative sense, an unexpected obstacle or drawback, from 1829 in Etymonline and Barnhart[5][4] or 1830 in the OED.[2][7] The verb, to be caught or damaged on a snag, followed in 1807, often of river steamboats;[2][5] Barnhart thinks it may have been influenced by snagged, jagged (1658).[4] The verb was used figuratively from 1833, of fabric caught and torn on a projection from 1854,[5][2] and in American colloquial use for catching, grabbing or stealing from 1895,[5][2][12] later for catching a ball (1942) or a fish (1946).[2] In North America a snag is also a standing dead tree (1904).[2][9] In dialect the word was used throughout Scotland, Ireland and England for a rough knob or the stump of a branch.[13]

Timeline

  • 1577–87 – a stump projecting from a tree trunk or branch.[2][4]
  • 1586 – a sharp or jagged projection.[2][4]
  • 1617 – a broken stump of a tooth, a large or unshapely tooth.[2]
  • 1673 – a short tine of a deer's antler.[2]
  • 1804 – a tree or branch fixed in a riverbed, dangerous to boats.[4] The OED's first record is from 1807.[2]
  • 1807 – verb, of a boat, to be caught or damaged by a snag.[2][5]
  • 1829 – figurative, an obstacle or impediment.[5][4] The OED dates it to 1830.[2]
  • 1833 – verb, figurative, to impede or hinder.[2][5]
  • 1854 – a tear made by a sharp projection; verb, to tear on a projection.[2][5]
  • 1895 – verb, American colloquial, to grab, catch or steal.[2][5]
  • 1904 – North American, a standing dead tree.[2]
  • 1942 – verb, in sport, to catch a ball.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An unexpected difficulty, obstacle or drawback: The only snag is that the ferry doesn't run on Sundays.[9][2][7]
  2. A tree or branch fixed in the bed of a river or lake, dangerous to boats.[10][2][9]
  3. A short stump left on a tree where a branch has been cut or broken off.[10][2][9]
  4. A sharp or jagged projection.[9][2]
  5. A pulled thread, small loop or tear in fabric, made by a sharp object.[9][2]
  6. (chiefly North America) A standing dead tree.[10][2][9]
  7. (Australia, slang, usually plural) A sausage.[9]

Verb

  1. To catch or tear on a projection: She snagged her sleeve on the barbed wire.[9][10][2]
  2. To impede or hold up, as a snag does.[2][5]
  3. (informal, chiefly North America) To grab or get hold of quickly: He snagged the last seat on the bus.[2][5][12]
  4. To catch a ball, or to catch a fish, especially with a bare hook.[2]
  5. To clear a river of snags.[2]
  6. To cut or trim roughly, leaving snags.[10][2]

Word family

  • snaggy
  • snaglike
  • unsnag

Usage notes

Several minor words share the spelling: an older verb snag, to carp or nag, recorded from 1554 and perhaps related;[2][10] a dialect name for the sloe, from 1578, of unknown origin;[2][10] and a dialect word for a snail or slug, a form of sneg, from 1673.[2][13] In slang SNAG was also an acronym for a "sensitive new-age guy".[12]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)