sniff

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sniffen,^[2][3][4] usually explained as imitative of the sound.^{[5][6][7][8][2]} The OED compares sniffle and snuff,^[5] and Weekley snivel;^[9] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster think it possibly related to snivelen (“to snivel”),^[3][10] and the MED and Dictionary.com consider it perhaps a back-formation from that verb.^[4][11] The American Heritage Dictionary and the MED take it as probably of Scandinavian origin;^[12][4] the MED compares Old Danish snive and dialectal Swedish snifsa.^[4] Ayto links it with a base Proto-Germanic *snuf- imitating a noisy intake of breath through the nose, which produced snuff and snivel.^[13] Skeat derived it from a lost Old Norse verb,^[14] and Johnson from Swedish.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

To draw air through the nose in short audible breaths, to sniffle: about 1340 in the OED,^[5] about 1350 in Barnhart and the MED, in the Nominale, where a man with a cold "snyffyth and snyuelith".^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

For four centuries the verb meant only breathing in noisily through the nose.^[5][3] Showing contempt by sniffing is recorded from 1729, in Swift,^[5][3][2] and Barnhart suggests that the smelling sense, recorded only from 1788, in Cowper, must be older.^[3] The transitive sense, to draw in air or a smell through the nose, is from 1796,^[5][2] and the figurative sense of smelling out or suspecting something from 1864.^[5] Use of drugs began in the early 20th century: Green's Dictionary of Slang has people sniffing cocaine in 1907,^[16] the OED records the verb for inhaling cocaine or glue fumes from 1925.^[5][2] The noun, from the verb, is from 1767;^[5][3][2] its scornful sense is from 1837 in the OED and 1859 in Etymonline,^[5][2] and a sniff was also a smell (1844) and a hint (1936).^[5][2] In Australian slang a sniff was perfume (1905).^[16] In dialect, sniff after meant to court in Nottinghamshire, and in Lancashire sniff meant to whimper.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – to draw air audibly through the nose.^[5]
• 1729 – to show contempt by sniffing, in Swift.^[5][3]
• 1767 – noun, an act of sniffing.^[5][3]
• 1788 – to smell something with sniffs, in Cowper.^[5][3]
• 1796 – transitive, to draw in air or a smell through the nose.^[5][2]
• 1837 – noun, a sniff of contempt.^[5]
• 1844 – noun, a smell or scent.^[5][2]
• 1864 – figurative, to detect or suspect, also sniff out.^[5]
• 1907 – to inhale a drug.^[16]
• 1936 – noun, a hint.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To breathe in quickly and audibly through the nose, as to clear it, to smell something or because one is crying: The child sniffed and wiped her eyes.^[18][10][5]
2. To smell something by sniffing: The dog sniffed the doorway.^[18][5]
3. To show contempt or disdain; also sniff at, to dismiss as not good enough: The offer is not to be sniffed at.^[18][5]
4. To breathe in a drug or the fumes of glue or the like through the nose.^[18][5][16]
5. To detect or find as if by smell; often sniff out.^[18][5]

Noun

1. An act or sound of sniffing.^[10][5]
2. An amount breathed in by sniffing; a smell or whiff.^[10][5]
3. A slight sign or chance; a hint.^[5]
4. A sniff showing contempt or disbelief.^[5][2]

Word family

• sniffable
• sniffer
• sniffingly
• sniffish
• sniffle
• sniffy

Related words

• snuff
• snivel

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e 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)
5. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ 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)
18. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins