# Snack

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snack/70024
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 25, 2001, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snack/70024 "2001-06-25T01:39:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![insider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@insider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/insider)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2001, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snack/70024/1 "2001-06-25T01:39:09Z")

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What is the origin of the word snack? When was it first used?

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### Author: ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2001, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snack/70024/2 "2001-06-25T01:51:54Z")

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It was originally used in the mid 18th Century.

It’s from the Middle English _snak_, bite.

Possibly from the Middle Dutch _snacken_, to snap at.  
Source: Merraiam Webster’s Collegiate, 10th ed.

Haj