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sny

English · Thesaurus

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sny¹

  • /snaɪ/ UK, US
  • /snʌɪ/ UK

Rhymes with -aɪ

Where it comes from

Of obscure origin. Likely from late Middle English sniȝen, snyȝen (“to creep”), from Old Danish *snigæ (whence modern Danish snige), from Old Norse sníkja (“to crawl, creep”). If so, doublet of sneak.

verb snies · snying · snied

  1. intransitive, obsolete, rare To move, proceed.

sny²

  • /snaɪ/ UK, US
  • /snʌɪ/ UK

Rhymes with -aɪ

Where it comes from

First attested in 1674; its etymology is unknown.

verb snies · snying · snied · snithe · snive

  1. dialectal, intransitive Abound, swarm, teem, be infested, with something “And did you kill it?” “I did, for they’re a nuisance. The place is fair snied wi’ ‛em.”

sny³

  • /snaɪ/ UK, US
  • /snʌɪ/ UK

Rhymes with -aɪ

Where it comes from

First attested in 1711; its etymology is unknown; perhaps from Proto-Germanic *snōwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sneh₁- (“to wind; twist; braid; plait”). Compare snying and the Danish sno (“to twine”, “to twist”).

noun snies

  1. An upward curve at the edge of a plank.
  2. An upward curve in the lines of a wooden watercraft from amidships toward its bow and its stern.

sny⁴

  • /snaɪ/ UK, US
  • /snʌɪ/ UK

Rhymes with -aɪ

Where it comes from

First attested with this spelling in 1893; see snye.

noun snies

  1. archaic A small channel of water. 1893, Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad, Tom Sawyer, Detective and Other Stories (1896), page unknown “Well, Mars Tom, my idea is like dis. It ain’t no use, we can’t kill dem po’ strangers dat ain’t doin’ us no harm, till we’ve had practice — I knows it perfectly well, Mars Tom — ‛deed I knows it perfec

SNY⁵

noun SNYs

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of sensitive needs yard (“part of a prison for prisoners who cannot safely be housed with the general population”).

    Similar: SNU

Translations

Every language

verb to swarm, teem, be infested with something

Русскийкише́ть kišétʹ

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MLA

"sny." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sny. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

sny. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sny

Chicago

"sny." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sny.

BibTeX
@misc{sny_2026,
  title = {sny},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sny},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}