Meaning

noun the charred portion of a candlewick

noun a pinch of smokeless tobacco inhaled at a single time

noun finely powdered tobacco for sniffing up the nose

originLate Middle English, from Middle Dutch snuffen (“to snuff, sniff, snuffle”). Related to Dutch snuiven (“to sniff”), Middle Low German snûve (“pose, head-cold”), German Schnupfen (“head-cold”). The noun is probably from Dutch snuf (“snuff”), an abbreviation of snuftabak, snuiftabak (“snuff”). Related to sniff (compare Dutch snuffen (“snuff”), German schnupf (“snuff”), French schnouff (“junk”)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0