Etymology

An old variant of schnauben ‎(“to snort, to pant”), documented in Middle High German snūfen. The fricative -f- (or -v-) instead of -b- is expected for Low German (compare Middle Low German snūven) as well as West Central German (compare Luxembourgish schnauwen). However, such forms are also old in Upper German dialects, it not being sure whether the latter have borrowed them from the North, or have derived them natively. In modern standard German, schnaufen is an alternative form of schnauben, but is now the more normal of the two (schnauben tends to be used referring to either snorting out of anger or that of an animal).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃnaʊ̯fən/
• Hyphenation: schnau‧fen