sneaker

English

A pair of sneakers

A tennis shoe

Etymology

From sneak +‎ -er. The shoes sense is a reference to the quietness of the shoes.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsnikɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːkə(ɹ)

Noun

sneaker (plural sneakers)

1. One who sneaks.
   • 1823, Elia [pseudonym; Charles Lamb], Elia. Essays which have Appeared under that Signature in The London Magazine, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC:

     Beshrew the man who on such a day as this, the general festival, should affect to stand aloof. I am none of those sneakers. I am free of the corporation, and care not who knows it.

2. (Northeastern US, Florida, Atlantic Canada, Australia, New Zealand) An athletic shoe with a soft, rubber sole. A trainer.
   • 1954, Ian Fleming, “Death of a Pelican”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 138:

     He was wearing a stained white singlet that revealed tufts of black hair under his arms, and slept-in white canvas trousers and rubber-soled sneakers.

3. (UK, dialect, archaic) A vessel of drink.
   • Spectator

     I have just left the right worshipful and his myrmidons about a sneaker of five gallons!

4. (India, archaic) A large cup (or small basin) with a saucer and cover.
5. (biology) A sneaker male.
   • 2008, Faye Flam, The Score: The Science of the Male Sex Drive‎^[1]:

     These sneakers may go on this way indefinitely, or, if one of the big males somehow dies or disappears, a sneaker male's hormones will trigger a huge growth spurt and he'll metamorphose into an alpha male.

Synonyms

• (sports shoes): kicks, tennis shoe (US), trainer (UK), runner (Australia), takkie (South Africa), rubber shoe (Philippines), running shoe, see also Thesaurus:sports shoe

Hypernyms

• sports shoe

Derived terms

• sneakered
• sneakerhead
• sneakerization
• sneakerless
• sneakerlike
• sneakernet
• sneakerprint
• sneaker sock
• sneaker wave
• sneakery

Translations

one who sneaks

• Afrikaans: sluiper
• Arabic: مُتَسَلِّل (mutasallil)
• Finnish: hiiviskelijä, hiipijä
• German: Schleicher m, Schleicherin f
• Indonesian: penyelinap (id)
• Spanish: pillo (es) m

leisure shoes, often worn for sports; trainers

• Albanian: atlete (sq)
• Apache:

  Western Apache: kee natsʼoode

• Arabic: حِذَاء رِيَاضِيّ m (ḥiḏāʔ riyāḍiyy)

  Egyptian Arabic: جزمة رياضية f (gázma reyaḍéyya), كوتشى m (kótši)

  North Levantine Arabic: سپدرين m (spadrīn)

• Belarusian: красо́ўка f (krasówka)
• Bulgarian: гу́менка f (gúmenka), марато́нка (bg) f (maratónka)
• Catalan: vamba (ca) f, ked f (Lleida), sabatilla (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 波鞋 (bo¹ haai⁴)

  Mandarin: 球鞋 (zh) (qiúxié), 運動鞋 / 运动鞋 (zh) (yùndòngxié)

• Czech: tenisky f pl, kecky f pl
• Dutch: sportschoenen (nl) pl or m, sneaker (nl) m
• Estonian: tennised pl, tennisking
• Finnish: lenkkarit (fi) pl (colloquial), lenkkitossut pl, tossut (fi) pl, tenniskenkä
• French: baskets (fr) f pl, tennis (fr) f pl, espadrille (fr) f (Canada, Missouri, Louisiana, New England)
• Galician: tenis (gl) f, zapatilla (gl) f
• Georgian: სპორტული ფეხსაცმელი (sṗorṭuli pexsacmeli), ბოტასი (boṭasi), კედი (ḳedi)
• German: Turnschuhe (de) m pl, Leinenschuhe m pl, Schnürschuhe (de) m pl, Sneakers (de) m pl, Sportschuhe (de) m pl, Tennisschuhe (de) m pl,
• Greek: αθλητικά παπούτσια n pl (athlitiká papoútsia)
• Hungarian: tornacipő (hu), edzőcipő (hu), teniszcipő (hu)
• Icelandic: strigaskór (is) m
• Indonesian: sepatu kets (id), sepatu olahraga
• Italian: scarpe da ginnastica f pl, scarpe da tennis f pl
• Japanese: スニーカー (ja) (sunīkā), 運動靴 (ja) (うんどうぐつ, undōgutsu)
• Korean: 스니커즈 (seunikeojeu), 운동화(運動靴) (ko) (undonghwa)
• Latvian: teniskurpe f
• Lithuanian: sportbačiai pl, sportiniai batai pl
• Macedonian: па́тика f (pátika)
• Malay: kasut sukan
• Navajo: kéjeehí
• Norman: traîneurs m pl
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: joggesko m

• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: کَفْشِ وَرْزِشی (kafš-e varzeši), اِسْنیکِرْز (esnikerz)

• Polish: adidas (pl) m, trampek (pl) m, tenisówka (pl) f
• Portuguese: tênis (pt) m, ténis (pt) m (Portugal)
• Romanian: baschet (ro) n
• Russian: кроссо́вки (ru) f pl (krossóvki), сни́керы (ru) m pl (sníkery), ке́ды (ru) m pl or f pl (kédy)
• Scottish Gaelic: brògan-cleasachd f pl
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: па̀тика f

  Latin: pàtika (sh) f

• Slovak: teniska f
• Slovene: superga f
• Spanish: tenis (es) m pl, bamba (es) f, botín (es) m, champión (es) m, deportivas (es) f pl, espores m pl, espais m pl, gomas (es) f pl, guachicón m, kets m pl, kids (es) m pl, maripís m pl, playera (es) f, popi m (Cuba), zapatilla deportiva f, zapato de goma m, zapatilla (es) f
• Swedish: gymnastikskor (sv), gympadojor (slang), gympaskor (sv) c pl, löparsko (sv) c, springsko c, sportsko (sv) c, tennissko c, gymnastiksko (sv) c
• Tagalog: sapato na panakbo
• Thai: รองเท้าผ้าใบ
• Turkish: jimnastik ayakkabısı, lastik ayakkabı (tr), lastik pabuç, sessiz ayakkabı, (slang) spor ayakkabı (tr); spor ayakkabısı
• Ukrainian: кросі́вка f (krosívka), сні́кер m (sníker)
• Uzbek: krossovka
• Vietnamese: giày điền kinh, giày ten-nít

Anagrams

• rankees, Keerans, kenares, Keresan

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ikər

Noun

sneaker m (plural sneakers, diminutive sneakertje n)

1. sneaker

Synonyms

• sportschoen, gymschoen

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /esˈnikeɾ/ [ezˈni.keɾ]
• Rhymes: -ikeɾ

Noun

sneaker m (plural sneakeres)

1. sneaker