Standard Lemma guide

snickerdoodle

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A cookie in which the batter is rolled into a ball and coated with cinnamon sugar.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

Examples

  • 1967, Paul Henry Oehser (ed.), The United States Encyclopedia of History, Curtis Books, page 382, Besides bread, the bakehouse also turned out such treats as gristmill graham, hobnail, lumberjack, and snickerdoodle cookies in New England; and corn pone, spoon bread, and hominy pudding in the South.
  • 1991, Daranna Gidel, Ceremony of Innocence, Dutton, →ISBN, page 345, Then, one morning, after making twenty dozen snickerdoodle cookies for an upcoming church function, Wanda collapsed onto the kitchen’s sparking vinyl floor and died.
  • 2006, Kris Nelscott, War at Home, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 22, I took a bite from the snickerdoodle. It was fresh and soft and tasted like childhood.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

The earliest known use is from 1889. Possibly a fanciful coinage, from snicker + doodle (“doodlebug”; though without clear semantic connection to either word). An alternative etymology derives it from German Schneckennudel, also a round type of pastry, but formed from dough rolled up in a coil. A Dutch origin has also been surmised, based off semantics (see cookie) and similar-sounding words (see snickersnee).