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PlainSpell

snatch

/snæt͡ʃ/verb, noun

snatch is spelled S-N-A-T-C-H: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, snatch means “To grasp and remove quickly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in snatch?

Letters6: S-N-A-T-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.4 times per million words; the 14,307th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 snatch?

Snatch appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th 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 snatch?

  • /snæt͡ʃ/

Snatch has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

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

What rhymes with snatch?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as snatch.

Spelled with the same letters in another order: stanch.

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 snatch

  • snatches present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • snatching participle, present
  • snatched participle, past

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

What does snatch mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    To grasp and remove quickly.

    He snatched up the phone.

  2. 2

    To attempt to seize something suddenly.

    to snatch at a rope

  3. 3

    To take or seize hastily, abruptly, or without permission or ceremony.

    to snatch a kiss

  4. 4

    informalTo steal.

    Someone has just snatched my purse!

  5. 5

    informalTo take (a victory) at the last moment.

  6. 6

    informalTo do something quickly in the limited time available.

    He snatched a sandwich before catching the train.

noun

  1. 1

    A quick grab or catch.

    The leftfielder makes a nice snatch to end the inning.

  2. 2

    A short period.

  3. 3

    A competitive weightlifting event in which a barbell is lifted from the platform to locked arms overhead in a smooth continuous movement.

  4. 4

    A piece of some sound, usually music or conversation.

    I heard a snatch of Mozart as I passed the open window.

  5. 5

    slangvulgarThe vulva.

  6. 6

    Rapid, uncommanded jerking or oscillation of the ailerons of some aircraft at high Mach numbers, resulting from shock wave formation at transonic speeds.

  7. 7

    datedA brief period of exertion.

  8. 8

    datedA catching of the voice.

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

Snatch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchempoigner, happer, saisir (to grasp quickly), arracher, enlever (brusquement) (to grasp and remove), s'emparer de (to steal)
Portugueseagarrar (to grasp quickly), buceta (vagina)
Spanishagarrar (to grasp quickly), arrebatar, rebatar, arranchar (to grasp and remove), apandar (to steal), arrancada (competitive weightlifting event)
Germanreißen (to grasp and remove), klauen, stehlen (to steal), Reißen (competitive weightlifting event)

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 snatch come from?

From Middle English snacchen, snecchen (“to snap; seize”), from Old English *snæċċan, *sneċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *snakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *snakjaną (“to whiff, sniff, catch wind of; to taste-test, nibble”), related to Proto-Germanic *snakōną (“to breathe, blow, sigh”) and *snakkōną (“to blather, jabber, chatter”).

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

What to look up after snatch