different between snaky vs snarky

English

Alternative forms

• snakey

Etymology

snake +? -y

Adjective

snaky (comparative snakier, superlative snakiest)

1. Resembling or relating to snakes.
2. Windy; winding; twisty; sinuous, wavy.
   • 1942, Emily Carr, “Chain Gang”, in The Book of Small:^[1]

     The nuns’ veils billowed and flapped behind the snaky line of girls as if the sisters were shooing the serpent from the Garden of Eden.

3. (obsolete) sly; cunning; deceitful.
4. (obsolete) Covered with serpents; having serpents.
   • 1634, John Milton, Comus, lines 447-452,^[2]

     What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield

     That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin,

     Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone,

     But rigid looks of chaste austerity,

     And noble grace that dashed brute violence

     With sudden adoration and blank awe?

   • 1700, John Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite,”^[3]

     His hat adorned with wings disclosed the god,

     And in his hand he bore the sleep-compelling rod;

     Such as he seemed, when, at his sire’s command,

     On Argus’ head he laid the snaky wand.

Translations

Anagrams

• Yanks, nasky, sanky, yanks

English

Etymology

snark +? -y; 1906, as “irritable”, from snark (“to snort”), by onomatopoeia (1866). Compare Low German snarken (“to snore”), North Frisian snarke, Swedish snarka. In the sense “sarcastic” popularized in the late 1990s.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?sn??.ki/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?sn??.ki/

Adjective

snarky (comparative snarkier, superlative snarkiest)

1. (informal, often humorous) Snide and sarcastic; usually out of irritation.
2. (obsolete) Irritable, irritated.

   Synonym: cranky

Derived terms

• snark (noun)
• snarkily
• snarkism
• snarkiness

Translations

Further reading

• “snarky”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

References

Anagrams

• Karsyn