Snirt

//snɜː(ɹ)t// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A suppressed laugh; a sharp intake of breath. Scotland
  2. 2
    Snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed. Canada, US, uncountable

    "We then have what we call ‘snirt’ storms."

Verb
  1. 1
    To give a suppressed laugh or sharp intake of breath. Scotland

    ""He grins, and snirts, and thraws ye ken —"

Synonyms

All synonyms
snoil

Example

More examples

""He grins, and snirts, and thraws ye ken —"

Etymology

Etymology 1

Origin uncertain. Either from Middle English snurten (“to sneer; snort, snore”), a variation of snorten (“to snort”); or from Middle English *snyrten, an alteration of fnyrten, fnerten, from Old English fnǣrettan. Compare also Norwegian snurt (“vexed, peevish”), Middle English snirt (“stern, gloomy”).

Etymology 2

Blend of snow + dirt.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.