Snitch is of uncertain origin, originally 18th-century slang for 'the nose', later 'an informer' and 'to inform'. The semantic link may be through 'nose' as one who pries, but the connection is not firmly established. Older glosses in the chain include "the nose", "an informer", "to inform", and "nose", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, snitch is best read as uncertain formation, yielding an English verb and noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a verb and noun, with the sense "to inform on someone; an informer". English derivatives include snitcher. The result is an English verb and noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.