English
snip
Snip may come from Dutch snip ‘to snip’.
- Dutchc. 1500–presentsnipas snippen‘to snip’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1680same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Dutchc. 1500–presentsnipas snippen‘to snip’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1680same form
Earliest quotation: 1680, Roger L'Estrange, The Free-Born Subject: “His Third Query is a Frank Proposal, without any…”
Every English word from Dutch snip
Today it means
verb To cut with short sharp actions, as with scissors.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Dutch snip / snip