snoop

Etymology

It is borrowed from Dutch snoepen (“to eat on the sly, eat sweets”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} first in American English.^[7][8][9] Barnhart gives the Dutch verb the further senses "to sneak" and "to steal food",^[7] and Merriam-Webster "to buy something on the sly".^[10] The OED compares Low German snôpen.^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline think the Dutch verb is probably related to snappen (“to bite, snatch”) and so to snap,^[7][8] and Barnhart gives a cognate verb in East Frisian, "to eat in secret", and Norwegian snope (“to chew, munch”).^[7] Merriam-Webster compares West Frisian snobje (“to buy sweets”) and Old Norse snoppa (“snout”).^[10] Klein calls the Dutch word imitative,^[11] and Partridge of obscure origin.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To go about in a sly or prying way: 1832, in the Writings of R. C. Sands, "The world has realms wherein to snoop".^[2][6] Etymonline dates the word to 1826, also with the senses "hunt; sneak, especially for food",^[8] and Barnhart thinks it probably first meant to take food on the sly.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The Dutch sense lived on for a while in American use: Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms (1848) defines snoop as eating dainties on the sly,^[2] a sense the Shorter Oxford now calls rare.^[13] The prying sense took over: "to pry into other people's business" is recorded by 1886 in Etymonline^[8] and 1921 in the OED,^[2] and Galsworthy used it in 1924 for stealing.^[2] The noun, a person who snoops, is recorded by 1869 in Etymonline;^[8] the OED and Barnhart date it to 1891,^[2][7] and is also used for a detective;^[2][8] an act of snooping is recorded from 1908.^[2][7] snooper dates from 1877^[8] and snoopy from 1895.^[7]

Timeline

• 1826 – Etymonline's first date.^[8]
• 1832 – to go about in a sly or prying way.^[2][6]
• 1848 – to eat dainties on the sly, in Bartlett.^[2]
• 1877 – snooper.^[8]
• 1886 – to pry into others' affairs.^[8]
• 1891 – noun, a person who snoops.^[2][7]
• 1895 – snoopy.^[7]
• 1908 – noun, an act of snooping.^[2][7]
• 1924 – to steal (rare).^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To look around or pry in a sneaking way, especially into other people's private affairs: She caught him snooping in her desk drawers.^[10][14][2]
2. (rare) To steal; originally, to take and eat food on the sly.^[13][2]

Noun

1. A person who pries into others' affairs; a snooper, sometimes a detective.^[14][10][2]
2. An act of snooping: a quick snoop around the garage.^[14][2]

Word family

• snooper
• snoopy

Related words

• snap

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 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. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins