snigger

snigger

English

Alternative forms

• snicker

Etymology

British variant pronunciation and spelling of snicker[1]. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsnɪɡə/
• Rhymes: -ɪɡə(r)

Noun

snigger (plural sniggers)

1. A partly suppressed or broken laugh.
   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, page 255,

     Here the unfeeling Toad broke into a snigger, and then pulled himself together and tried to look particularly solemn.

2. A sly or snide laugh.

Translations

A partly suppressed or broken laugh

Italian: risatina (it) f

Russian: смешо́к (ru) m (smešók), хихи́канье (ru) n (xixíkanʹje)

a sly or snide laugh

French: ricanement (fr) m

Greek: χαχανητό (el) pl (chachanitó)

Verb

snigger (third-person singular simple present sniggers, present participle sniggering, simple past and past participle sniggered)

1. (intransitive) To emit a snigger.
   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, page 22,

     […] presently the Mole's spirits revived again, and he was even able to give some straight back-talk to a couple of moorhens who were sniggering to each other about his bedraggled appearance.

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in The Cuckoo in the Nest‎:

     Peter, after the manner of man at the breakfast table, had allowed half his kedgeree to get cold and was sniggering over a letter. Sophia looked at him sharply. The only letter she had received was from her mother. Sophia's mother was not a humourist.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:laugh

Translations

to emit a snigger

Dutch: gniffelen (nl), stiekem lachen French: ricaner (fr) Ido: ridetar (io) Maori: tīhohe

Russian: посме́иваться (ru) (posméivatʹsja), хихи́кать (ru) (xixíkatʹ) Swedish: fnissa (sv) Westrobothnian: fnyks, fnööks

References

1. “snigger” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

Anagrams

• gingers, niggers, serging