schnozzle

schnozzle

English

Etymology

Probably from Yiddish שנויץ‎ (shnoits, “snout”), originally from German Schnauze (“snout, muzzle”). The Oxford English Dictionary suggests the word may be pseudo-Yiddish coined in English. Attested since 1930.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɒzəl

Noun

schnozzle (plural schnozzles)

1. (slang) The human nose, especially one that is large.
   • 1932, “The Passionate Plumber”, in Motion Picture, page 64:

     Buster Keaton is the plumber, passionate or otherwise, and he is more than ably assisted by the Schnozzle, Jimmy Durante.

   • 1947, Leslie Waller, Show Me the Way, page 31:

     I poked that bastard in the schnozzle, he told himself proudly, and everybody on the crew will thank me.

Synonyms

• beak
• conk (Britain)
• honker (US)
• hooter (Britain)
• schnoz
• snoot (US)
• See also Thesaurus:nose

Translations

slang: human nose, especially large one

Czech: frňák (cs) m Finnish: klyyvari (fi), nokka (fi) French: blair (fr) m, pif (fr) m, tarin (fr) m German: Rüssel (de) m, Riecher m Greek: μυτόγκα (el) f (mytógka) Hungarian: hefti (hu) Italian: nasone (it) m

Polish: nochal m Portuguese: narigão (pt) m Russian: шно́бель (ru) m (šnóbelʹ), руби́льник (ru) m (rubílʹnik) (knife-switch), пая́льник (ru) m (pajálʹnik) (soldering-iron) Spanish: hocico (es) m, napia (es), tocha Swedish: kran (sv) c, tryne (sv) Yiddish: שנאָבל‎ m (shnobl)

References

• “schnozzle, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.