Where does “snuff” come from?

Snuff comes from Dutch snuffen, meaning to sniff or snuffle, though the exact semantic path to the English sense remains unclear.

snuff (English): Finely ground or pulverized tobacco intended for...

Definitions

  1. Finely ground or pulverized tobacco intended for...

Ancestry of “snuff”, step by step

snuff traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Dutch snuf

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Dutchsnufsmell, odor; snuff, sniffle
2Dutchsnuffento snuff

via Middle English snoffe

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishsnoffe

Words derived from “snuff

Every word from Dutch snuffenEvery word from Dutch snuf