snark
/snɑː(ɹ)k/noun, verb
snark is spelled S-N-A-R-K: 5 letters. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,209th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, snark means “an attitude or expression of mocking irreverence and sarcasm” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of snark is snarks.
How many letters and syllables are in snark?
| Letters | 5: S-N-A-R-K |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 44,209th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| 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 snark?
Snark appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,209th 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 snark?
- /snɑː(ɹ)k/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-snark.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with snark?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as snark.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: skarn.
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 snark
- snarks present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- snarking participle, present
- snarked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does snark mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
an attitude or expression of mocking irreverence and sarcasm.
- 2
The fictional creature of Lewis Carroll's poem, used allusively to refer to fruitless quest or search.
- 3
A graph in which every node has three branches, and the edges cannot be coloured in fewer than four colours without two edges of the same colour meeting at a point.
- 4
A fluke or unrepeatable result or detection in an experiment.
Cabrera's Valentine's Day monopole detection or some extremely energetic cosmic rays could be examples of snarks.
verb
- 1
To express oneself in a snarky fashion.
- 2
obsoleteTo snort.
noun
- 1
Acronym of succinct non-interactive argument of knowledge.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does snark come from?
Noun sense “snide remark” as back-formation from snarky (1906), from obsolete snark (“to snore, snort”, verb) (1866), from Middle English *snarken (“to snore”), from Proto-West Germanic *snarkōn, equivalent to snore + -k. Compare Low German snarken, North Frisian snarke, Swedish snarka, German schnarchen, and English snort and snore. Of Germanic origin, but ultimately onomatopoeic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).