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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

snifter.

To sniff; also, to snivel or snuffle.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈsnɪftə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsnɪftəɹ/General-American
  1. To sniff; also, to snivel or snuffle.

    intransitive
  2. Followed by out: to speak (words) in a nasal, snuffling manner.

    archaic · rare · transitive
Where this word comes from

The verb is derived from Middle English snifteren, snifter, snyfter (“to sniffle”), possibly from *snift (possibly derived from an Old Norse word—compare Old Danish snifte and Swedish snyfta (“to sniffle; to sob”); probably ultimately imitative) + -er- (frequentative suffix) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). The noun is derived from the verb.

noun/ˈsnɪftə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsnɪftəɹ/General-American
  1. A sniff.

    Northern-England · Scotland
  2. A strong or severe wind.

    Northern-England · Scotland · figuratively
  3. A small, wide, pear-shaped glass used for drinking aromatic liquors such as bourbon and brandy.

    figuratively
  4. Synonym of nip (“a small amount of an alcoholic beverage, especially one equivalent to what a snifter (noun sense 2.2) might hold”)

    figuratively · informal
  5. Synonym of cocaine addict; a sniffer.

    US · figuratively · slang
  6. A small amount of cocaine taken by inhaling through the nose.

    US · figuratively · slang
  7. A handheld device used to detect signals from radio transmitters; a sniffer.

    US · figuratively · slang
Where this word comes from

The verb is derived from Middle English snifteren, snifter, snyfter (“to sniffle”), possibly from *snift (possibly derived from an Old Norse word—compare Old Danish snifte and Swedish snyfta (“to sniffle; to sob”); probably ultimately imitative) + -er- (frequentative suffix) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). The noun is derived from the verb.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.