Dictionary

snigger en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (UK) audio
• /ˈsnɪɡə(ɹ)/ (UK)
• /ˈsnɪɡɚ/ (General-American)

Etymology

British variant pronunciation and spelling of snicker.

Meanings

1. (Ireland, UK) A partly suppressed or broken laugh.
   • Here the unfeeling Toad broke into a snigger, and then pulled himself together and tried to look particularly solemn. 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 255:
2. (Ireland, UK) A sly or snide laugh.

Forms

Translations (7)

ru смешо́к (A partly suppressed or broken laugh) · bg хихикане (A partly suppressed or broken laugh) · el χαχανητό (a sly or snide laugh) · bg подсмиване (a sly or snide laugh) · ru хихи́канье (A partly suppressed or broken laugh) · it risatina (A partly suppressed or broken laugh) · fr ricanement (a sly or snide laugh)

snigger en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (UK) audio
• /ˈsnɪɡə(ɹ)/ (UK)
• /ˈsnɪɡɚ/ (General-American)

Etymology

British variant pronunciation and spelling of snicker.

Meanings

1. (Ireland, UK, intransitive) To emit a snigger.
   • […]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. 1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 21–22:
   • It’s easy to snigger at foreigners and their funny, not-quite-English words – but how many of us realise that our own language contains plenty of the same thing the other way around? 2016 October 13, Matthew Anderson, “The foreign words that seem like English – but aren’t”, in BBC, archived from the original on 14 Nov 2020:
   • That said, I still find it hard not to snigger when I hear [Travis] Kelce described as being the Kansas City Chiefs' tight end. 2025 August 30, Jo Ellison, “Taylor Swift is entering her conservative era”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20:
   • 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. 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

Forms

Deriveds

sniggeringly · sniggery · sniggersome · sniggerer

Translations (10)

nl stiekem lachen (to emit a snigger) · de kichern (to emit a snigger) · ru хихи́кать (to emit a snigger) · nl gniffelen (to emit a snigger) · mi tīhohe (to emit a snigger) · fr ricaner (to emit a snigger) · sv fnissa (to emit a snigger) · io ridetar (to emit a snigger) · ru посме́иваться (to emit a snigger) · bg хихикам (to emit a snigger)