sneaker

Etymology

It is formed from English sneak + -er, an agent noun from the verb.^[2][3][4][5] The verb sneak is recorded from the 1550s;^[3] the OED calls it of doubtful origin, since its form does not agree with that of sniken (“to creep, crawl”) and Old English snīcan (“to creep, crawl”) and the gap in time is very great,^[2] while Etymonline suggests a dialectal survival of the Middle English verb.^[3] The shoe sense comes from the earlier noun sneak in the same sense,^[2][3][6] and Barnhart describes sneaker as an alteration of it under the influence of sneaker, one who sneaks.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person or animal that sneaks: 1598, in Florio's Italian–English dictionary A Worlde of Wordes.^[2][8] Etymonline dates it to the 1590s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century a sneaker was also a thief who slipped into houses, a sense recorded in underworld slang from 1628.^[9] From 1699, in B. E.'s New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, the word meant a small bowl of punch, and it was common in this sense from about 1710 to about 1740;^[2][9] Johnson in 1755 defined it as a large vessel of drink, and in 1773 as a small one.^[10] The punch bowl sense lived on in Scotland and the north of England,^[11] and in Scots a sneaker was also a glass of brandy.^[2] In cricket the word was used from 1851 for a ball bowled along the ground.^[2][4] The modern sense arose in slang: soft-soled shoes were called sneaks in 1862, by the women of Brixton Prison,^[3][2] because they made no noise,^[3][7] and sneaker is recorded in this sense from 1895 in American English.^[2][6][9] Etymonline finds it in 1894.^[3]

Timeline

• 1598 – a person or animal that sneaks.^[2][8]
• 1628 – a thief who sneaks into houses.^[9]
• 1699 – a small bowl of punch (obsolete after about 1775).^[2][9]
• before 1814 – in Scots, a glass of brandy.^[2]
• 1851 – in cricket, a ball bowled along the ground.^[2]
• 1895 – a soft-soled, noiseless shoe, originally in American English.^[2][6][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A light shoe, usually of canvas or leather, with a flexible rubber sole, worn especially for sports; a training shoe or plimsoll.^[8][12][4] Usually in the plural: She laced up her sneakers for the morning run.^[8][12][4]
2. A person who sneaks; a sneak.^[8][2][4]
3. (obsolete, 1699–1775) A small bowl of punch.^{[2][8][4][10]}

Word family

• sneakered
• sneakernet

Related words

• sneak
• sneaky

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ 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.
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins