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snarl

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Etymology and origin of the English word snarl

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsnɑː(ɹ)l/[1]

snarl1 tangle, knot

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1380 Metrical homily (MS Vernon)
Ultimate origins
Old Norse snaraOld English -el
Etymology tree of snarl1
inherited borrowed derived
English snare
English snarl
From the same root · snarl1
English ensnare ← snare

Etymology

The word for the tangle is formed from English snare + -le,[2][3][4] probably as a diminutive of the noun meaning a noose or trap.[5][6][7] Etymonline is more cautious and says "perhaps",[8] and the Middle English Dictionary queries the derivation of Middle English snarl.[9] The verb, Middle English snarlen, is taken from the noun by Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged,[5][6] and the OED calls this probable;[2] the Middle English Dictionary allows a formation on the verb snaren as well.[9] Partridge thought that the sound of the word was influenced by the verb for growling.[10] The base is late Old English snearu, also from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse snara (“noose, snare”).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A snare or noose, also in a figurative sense: about 1380, in a homily in the Vernon manuscript.[2] Barnhart's earliest record is before 1387, for a moral snare or temptation, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon,[5][9] and the verb meaning to ensnare appears in the same text.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word began with traps and nooses, and a person could be snarled in a sin or in debt as well as in a rope.[9] The physical sense of the verb, to twist together in confusion, is recorded from about 1440 in the Promptorium Parvulorum,[2][5] and the intransitive use, to become tangled, from 1600.[2][8] The noun followed in 1609 with a knot or tangle, as in hair,[2][5] and in 1631 with a figurative muddle,[2] which later gave traffic snarl, a traffic jam, dated to 1933 by Etymonline.[8][2] The phrasal verb to snarl up, to throw into confusion, is recorded from 1937.[2] Johnson (1755) entered the verb as to entangle or embarrass, adding that he did not think this sense well authorised.[11] In the United States the noun could mean a swarm or large number from 1775,[2] and a confused mass of people is still recorded.[6] In northern and other English dialects the verb kept the sense of catching in a noose, as of rabbits, and was used of yarn that twists into loops.[12] The metalworkers' verb, to raise bosses with a snarling iron, recorded from 1688, may come from the sense "knot in wood", although that sense is recorded only later.[2][3][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1380 – noun, a snare or noose.[2]
  • 1387 – verb, figurative, to ensnare or entrap.[2][5]
  • 1398 – verb, to catch in a noose; to secure with a cord.[2]
  • c. 1440 – verb, to tangle, to twist together.[2][5]
  • 1600 – verb, intransitive, to become tangled.[2][8]
  • 1609 – noun, a tangle or knot, as in the hair.[2][5]
  • 1631 – noun, figurative, a state of confusion.[2]
  • 1653 – verb, figurative, to make complicated or confused.[2]
  • 1688 – verb, to raise bosses on metal with a snarling iron.[2]
  • 1775 – noun, in the United States, a swarm or large number.[2]
  • before 1891 – noun, a knot in wood.[2]
  • 1933 – noun, a traffic jam.[8]
  • 1937 – to snarl up, to throw into confusion.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tangle of threads, hair, lines or the like that is hard to undo: She combed a snarl out of the pony's mane.[6][2][3]
  2. A state of confusion or complication, or a confused hold-up: a traffic snarl.[6][2][3]
  3. A confused or disordered mass of people or things; a swarm.[6][2]
  4. A knot in wood.[2][6]
  5. (dialect) A snare or noose.[6][2][3]

Verb

  1. To make something tangled or knotted: The wind snarled the kite strings.[6][2]
  2. To become tangled; also with up.[2][3]
  3. To make something too complicated or confused; to impede it, often with up.[6][2]
  4. To raise bosses on thin metalware with a snarling iron.[6][2][3]
  5. (dialect) To catch in a snare or noose.[6][2][3]

Word family

  • ensnarl
  • unsnarl
  • snarly

snarl2 growl

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1590 R. Harvey, Plaine Percevall
Ultimate origins
English snarOld English -el

Etymology

The word for the growl is formed from English snar + -le, with the frequentative suffix,[2][3][5][6] from the obsolete verb meaning to growl, recorded from 1530 in Palsgrave to 1596.[2][5] That verb corresponds to Dutch snarren, Middle Low German snarren and Middle High German snarren, German schnarren (“to rattle”), Swedish snarra and Danish snærre, and is probably imitative.[2][3] Barnhart, Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary take it as perhaps borrowed from Dutch or Low German,[5][8][13] while Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls it akin to Middle Dutch snarren (“to hum, drone”) and refers it to snore.[6] Partridge treated it, sneer and snort as expressive variations on the same sounds.[10] The noun is from the verb.[2][3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of dogs and the like, to make an angry sound and show the teeth: 1590, in R. Harvey's Plaine Percevall.[2][6] Barnhart gives 1589 and Etymonline the 1580s.[5][8]

Semantic evolution

The word passed from animals to angry people almost at once: snarl at or against someone is recorded from 1593 in Nashe,[2][5] and to quarrel or grumble viciously from 1597 in Shakespeare's Richard III.[2] The noun, recorded from 1613 in a title by E. Hoby, may have been used first of a harsh answer or remark.[2][5][6] Transitive use, to utter something in a rude or ill-natured way, followed in 1693 in Congreve's Old Batchelour.[2][5][8] Johnson (1755) gave the verb as to growl like an angry animal and traced it to Dutch.[11] In Scots and in Cumberland dialect a snarl was also a quarrel or an angry scolding, and to snarl was to dispute.[12]

Timeline

  • 1590 – verb, of dogs, to growl and show the teeth.[2][6]
  • 1593 – verb, of people, to snarl at or against someone.[2][5]
  • 1597 – verb, of people, to quarrel or grumble viciously.[2]
  • 1613 – noun, an act of snarling.[2][6][5]
  • 1675 – verb, of things, to give out a snarling noise.[2]
  • 1693 – verb, transitive, to utter in a harsh or rude way.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. Of an animal, to growl fiercely and show the teeth: The chained mastiff snarled at the postman.[13][14][6]
  2. To speak or complain in an angry, surly way.[13][14][6]
  3. To say something angrily or with hostility: “Get out,” he snarled.[13][14][2]

Noun

  1. A fierce growl, often with bared teeth.[13][14][6]
  2. A hostile utterance or angry look.[13][14]

Word family

  • snarler
  • snarlingly

References

  1. ^ 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 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  10. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  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 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)
  13. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Snarl.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/snarl. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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