snippet n.

1550s, "small piece of cloth cut off or out," probably from Dutch or Low German snippen "to snip, shred," which is of imitative origin. The meaning "a single cut made by shears or scissors" is from 1590s. Figurative of a small amount of anything from 1580s. As a nickname or cant word for a tailor, 1590s.

word-forming element, originally a diminutive suffix but not now always felt as one, Middle English, from Old French -et (fem. -ete; Modern French -et, -ette), from Vulgar Latin *-ittum/*-itta (source also of Spanish -eto/-eta, Italian -etto/-etta), of unknown origin. The French forms are reduced to -et in English, but later borrowings of French words in -ette tend to keep that ending.