# snipe

> English word · Noun · IPA /snaɪp/ · frequency rank #27,648

## Definitions
1. Any of various limicoline game birds of the genera Gallinago, Lymnocryptes and Coenocorypha in the family Scolopacidae, having a long, slender, nearly straight beak.
2. A fool; a blockhead.
3. A shot fired from a concealed place.
4. A member of the engineering department on a ship.
5. A goal.

## Etymology
From Middle English snipe, snype (a type of bird), from Old Norse snípa, as in mýrisnípa (“moor snipe”). Akin to Norwegian snipe.
The verb originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India where a hunter skilled enough to kill the elusive snipe was dubbed a "sniper". The term sniper was first attested in 1824 in the sense of the word "sharpshooter".

## Easily confused with
- **SNP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-snp)
- **suite** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-suite)
- **spite** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-spite)
- **spike** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-spike)
- **spice** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-spice)
- **spine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-spine)
- **swipe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-swipe)
- **swine** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-swine)
- **spire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-spire)
- **snore** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-snore)
- **stipe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-stipe)
- **sniper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-sniper)
- **stripe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-stripe)
- **swipes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-swipes)
- **snipes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-snipes)
- **snippet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snipe-vs-snippet)
- **sip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sip-vs-snipe)
- **sie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sie-vs-snipe)
- **side** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/side-vs-snipe)
- **site** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/site-vs-snipe)

## Common misspellings (7)
`nsipe`, `sinpe`, `sniep`, `snippe`, `snnipe`, `snpie`, `ssnipe`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/snipe