Etymograph

English

sned

Sned comes from Old English snid ‘a cut, incision’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sneyt-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sneyt-1‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snidiz1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snidi2‘a cut, incision’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150snid2‘a cut, incision’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snid2
  6. Englishtodaysned2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *snidi
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English sned

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sneyt-Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *snidi‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snidizWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *snidireconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snidiWiktionary, English sned‘a cut, incision’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150snidWiktionary, English sned‘a cut, incision’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snidWiktionary, English sned
  6. EnglishtodaysnedWiktionary, English sned

The story

From Middle English snid (attested only in the sense of saw and slaughter), from Old English snid, snide (‘a cut, incision; cutting implement, saw’), from Proto-West Germanic *snidi; merging with Middle English snede (‘a morsel, bite; scythe’), from Old English snǣd (‘something cut off, morsel, bit; scythe handle’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sneyt- ‘to cut’

schnitzel, snead, 4 more

Today it means

noun A cut, a cutting; a slash, a slight wound; a lopping or pruning.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sned”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-West Germanic *snidi. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sneyt- / sned

Shirt and support for this word