snoeien

Inherited from Middle Dutch snoeyen. Further etymology is unknown, although several theories exist:

• One theory suggests a common source with Old High German nōen (“to carve, to shave off”), but a lack of other cognates makes this unlikely;
• In older texts, and dialectally, the word is synonymous with snoepen (“to snack, to eat something tasty”), which originally referred to picking fruits or other crops;
• A link has been suggested to a group of words starting with sn-, which all refer to a "pointed protruding head or beak", such as snavel (“beak”) and snuit (“snout”);
• Perhaps a merging of snijden (“to cut”) and groeien (“to grow”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈsnui̯ə(n)/

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -ui̯ən
• Hyphenation: snoe‧ien

snoeien(ambitransitive)

1. (horticulture) to prune (trim a tree or shrub)

   Snoeien doet groeien. ― Pruning causes growth.

2. (figuratively) to prune (cut down or shorten)

   een begroting of een essay snoeien ― pruning a budget or an essay

• bijsnoeien
• snoeier
• snoeimes
• snoeischaar

• Afrikaans: snoei
• → Papiamentu: snui, snoei