ENGLISH
REFERENCE

snot

n.
C1 Advanced US //ˈsnɔt// UK //snˈɒt// snot Archaic Dialect Informal Slang

n. the thick, sticky liquid that comes out of your nose when you are sick. It is a common word in casual speech, especially in British English.

n. the mucus secreted by the nasal passages, typically during an illness.


SIMPLE

He wiped the snot from his nose with a tissue.

CONTEXTUAL

The child was running with snot down his face after playing outside in the cold wind.

COMPLEX

The thick snot accumulated in the corners of the child's nostrils, a visible sign of the viral infection that had kept him home from school for three days.

Synonyms
Origin

From Middle English snot, snotte, from Old English ġesnot, snott, from Proto-West Germanic snott, snutt, from Proto-Germanic snuttuz (“nasal mucus”), from the same base as snout. Related also to snite. Cognate with North Frisian snot (“snot”), Saterland Frisian Snotte (“snot”), West Frisian snotte (“snot”), Dutch snot (“snot”), German Low German Snött (“snot”), dialectal German Schnutz (“snot”), Danish snot (“snot”), Norwegian snott (“snot”).

© 2026 English Reference