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PlainSpell

snitch

/snɪt͡ʃ/verb, noun

snitch is spelled S-N-I-T-C-H: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, snitch means “To inform on someone, especially in betrayal of others” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in snitch?

Letters6: S-N-I-T-C-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.3 times per million words; the 25,367th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is snitch?

Snitch appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th 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 snitch?

  • /snɪt͡ʃ/

Snitch 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-snitch.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of snitch

  • snitches present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • snitching participle, present
  • snitched participle, past

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

What does snitch mean?

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

verb

  1. 1

    slangTo inform on someone, especially in betrayal of others.

  2. 2

    slangTo contact or cooperate with the police for any reason.

  3. 3

    datedslangTo steal, quickly and quietly.

noun

  1. 1

    slangA thief.

  2. 2

    slangAn informer, one who betrays their group.

  3. 3

    UKslangA nose.

  4. 4

    A tiny morsel.

  5. 5

    A ball used in the sport of Quidditch: the Golden Snitch.

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

Snitch in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpiquer, voler (steal), balancer (inform on), moucharder (contact or cooperate with the police), voleur, voleuse (thief)
Germanklauen, stibitzen (steal), petzen, verpetzen, verpfeifen (inform on), Spitzeldienste verrichten (contact or cooperate with the police)
Portugueseafanar (steal), delatar, dedurar, xisnovar, chibar (inform on), dedo-duro (informer, one who betrays his group)
Spanishchivarse, chivatear, delatar (inform on), chivato, soplón, delator (informer, one who betrays his group)

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 snitch come from?

Origin uncertain. Perhaps an alteration of Middle English snacche (“a trap, snare”), snacchen (“to seize (prey)”, whence modern English snatch). Compare also Middle English snik snak (“a sudden blow, snap”). Alternatively, perhaps from a dialectal variant of sneak, from Middle English sniken, from Old English snīcan (“to creep; crawl”). More at sneak, snatch.

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

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