Snitch

Snitch (noun / verb / UK slang)

(Also heard as: Snitching, Snitched, Snitches get stitches)

Definition: A rat, grass, or blabbermouth. Anyone who runs crying to the police, teachers, or the gaffer to save their own skin. As a verb, it just means selling someone out.

Pronunciation: Sn-itch

Where It Comes From: Back in the 1700s, London pickpockets used “snitch” as old cant for a nose. Sticking your snout into someone else’s business—or running your mouth to the night watch—meant you were putting your snitch to work. Over time, the name stuck to anyone who couldn’t keep their mouth shut.

How People Actually Use It: Simple: rule number one on any street, schoolyard, or building site is you don’t rat on your own. It gets spat as an insult the second someone breaks rank, whether it’s a bloke cutting a deal with the coppers in a police cell or some jobsworth in the office telling the boss you slipped off ten minutes early.

Examples in the Wild:

• “Watch what you say around him—he’s an absolute snitch.”

  Translation: Keep your mouth shut, he’ll run straight to management.

• “He got collared with the weed and instantly snitched on the driver.”

  Translation: The second he was nicked, he pointed fingers at everyone else.

• “Who snitched about the window getting broken?”

  Translation: Who went and told the teacher what happened?

Similar Slang: Grass, Rat, Snake, Pig, Five-O, Copper’s nark