means A soft-soled, rubber-bottomed shoe made for sports or casual wear, designed to move quietly and comfortably.

from Coined in late-19th-century English from the verb "sneak" — itself an old word of Germanic stock, possibly related to "snake" — because the rubber sole let wearers move silently, unlike the clack of leather heels. The popular tale credits a 1910s adman, but the soft "sneak" shoe was already being named for its stealth decades earlier.