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PlainSpell

snag

/snæɡ/noun, verb

snag is spelled S-N-A-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,356th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, snag means “A stump or base of a branch that has been lopped off; a short branch, or a sharp or rough branch” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of snag is snags.

How many letters and syllables are in snag?

Letters4: S-N-A-G
Syllables1
In writing1.9 times per million words; the 20,356th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is snag?

Snag appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,356th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce snag?

  • US /snæɡ/
  • British /snaɡ/
  • Australia /snæːɡ/

Snag has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-snag.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with snag?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as snag from its last stressed vowel (/æɡ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: sang.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of snag

  • snags plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • snagging participle, present
  • snagged participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does snag mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A stump or base of a branch that has been lopped off; a short branch, or a sharp or rough branch.

  2. 2

    A dead tree that remains standing.

  3. 3

    A tree, or a branch of a tree, fixed in the bottom of a river or other navigable water, and rising nearly or quite to the surface, by which boats are sometimes pierced and sunk.

  4. 4

    Any sharp protuberant part of an object, which may catch, scratch, or tear other objects brought into contact with it.

  5. 5

    A tooth projecting beyond the others; a broken or decayed tooth.

  6. 6

    A problem or difficulty with something.

    we hit a snag

  7. 7

    A pulled thread or yarn, as in cloth; a tear.

  8. 8

    One of the secondary branches of an antler.

  9. 9

    UKobsoleteA light meal.

  10. 10

    AustraliacolloquialinformalA sausage.

  11. 11

    slangA goal.

  12. 12

    A misnaged, an opponent to Chassidic Judaism (more likely modern, for cultural reasons).

  13. 13

    informalAcronym of sensitive new age guy.

verb

  1. 1

    To catch or tear (e.g. fabric) upon a rough surface or projection.

    Be careful not to snag your stockings on that concrete bench!

  2. 2

    To damage or sink (a vessel) by collision; said of a tree or branch fixed to the bottom of a navigable body of water and partially submerged or rising to just beneath the surface.

    The steamboat was snagged on the Mississippi River in 1862.

  3. 3

    To fish by means of dragging a large hook or hooks on a line, intending to impale the body (rather than the mouth) of the target.

    We snagged for spoonbill from the eastern shore of the Mississippi River.

  4. 4

    slangTo obtain or pick up, especially in a quick or surreptitious way.

    Ella snagged a bottle of water from the fridge before leaving for her jog.

  5. 5

    UKTo cut the snags or branches from, as the stem of a tree; to hew roughly.

  6. 6

    slangTo have noncommittal sexual relations.

noun

as SNAG
  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of snag (“sensitive new age guy”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Snag in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchaspérité, chicot (stump or base of a branch), pépin, hic (problem or difficulty), accrocher (to catch or tear)
GermanAststumpf, Aststummel (stump or base of a branch), Haken, springender Punkt (problem or difficulty), Baumstumpf (tree fixed in the bottom of a river or other…), Zahnstumpf (tooth projecting beyond the rest)
Spanishsiete, rasgón (stump or base of a branch), pega, intrígulis (problem or difficulty), árbol muerto en pie (a dead tree that remains standing), roto (pulled thread or yarn)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does snag come from?

From earlier snag (“stump or branch of a tree”), from Middle English *snagge, *snage, from Old Norse snagi (“clothes peg”) (compare Old Norse snag-hyrndr (“snag-horned, having jagged corners”)), perhaps related to *sneganą, *snakaną (“to crawl, creep, wind about”) if the original meaning of the root *sneg- was more like “pointy object, stinging creature”. Note also *snakkōną (“to snap at, smack the lips; to blow”) (German schnacken (“to chat”)) and English sneck, snatch. Compare Norwegian snag, snage (“protrusion; projecting point”), Icelandic snagi (“peg”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after snag