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smack

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English has four separate words spelled smack.[1]

Pronunciation

smack1 taste, flavour

Etymology

The taste is inherited from Middle English smak, also smac and smacke,[3][2] inherited from Old English smæc (“taste; scent, odour”),[3][4][5][6][7] inherited from Proto-Germanic *smakkuz (“a taste”).[2] It is cognate with Old Frisian smek, Middle Dutch smac, Dutch smaak, Old High German smac, German Geschmack, Old Norse smekkr, Swedish smak and Danish smag.[4][8][3][9] Etymonline derives the Germanic noun from a verb, from a root meaning "to taste" that Germanic shares with Baltic, as in Lithuanian smagus (“pleasing”);[3][1] Barnhart traces it to Proto-Indo-European *smeg-.[8] The verb, to taste or to have a taste, was formed from the noun[4][7] and replaced the older smatch;[7][10] Merriam-Webster instead derives it from smæccan (“to taste”), altered under the influence of the noun.[9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Taste or flavour, and also scent or smell: Old English, in a glossary printed by Wright and Wülcker.[4] Barnhart finds the Middle English form smacc probably about 1200, in the Ormulum.[8]

Semantic evolution

The sense of smell died out in the 16th century.[4] Figurative uses appear from 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwit,[4] and the transferred sense, a trace or suggestion of something, from 1539.[4][3][6] From 1551 to the late 18th century to have a smack of meant to have a smattering of a subject,[4] and a smack was also a mere taste or mouthful of liquor from 1693.[4] The verb first meant to perceive by taste (1340) and then to have a particular taste (1398);[4][8] its figurative sense, to be suggestive of something, is recorded by Barnhart in Shakespeare's King John (1595) and by the OED in his Measure for Measure,[8][4] and smack of is now the word's main use.[1][3] Johnson (1755) defined the noun first as taste or savour and then as a tincture or quality from something mixed in.[11] Etymonline quotes the Century Dictionary's warning that the word is commonly but wrongly taken to be the same as the smack of the lips, as if tasting came from smacking them.[3] In Lakeland dialect a smack was still a taste in the 19th century.[12]

Timeline

  • Old English – taste, flavour; also scent, smell (until 1549).[4]
  • c. 1200 – the Middle English form, in the Ormulum.[8]
  • 1340 – figurative use; verb, to perceive by taste.[4]
  • 1398 – verb, to have a particular taste.[4][8]
  • 1539 – a trace or suggestion of something.[4]
  • 1595 – verb, to be suggestive of something.[8]
  • 1693 – a small quantity of liquor; a mouthful.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A distinctive but faint flavour or smell.[13][9]
  2. A trace or suggestion of something: a smack of hypocrisy.[13][9]
  3. A small amount, especially a mouthful or taste.[13][9]

Verb

  1. To have a particular taste or smell; used with of: The stew smacked of garlic.[13][9]
  2. To suggest or be reminiscent of something; used with of: The decision smacks of favouritism.[13][9]
  3. (archaic) To perceive by taste.[9][7]

smack2 loud blow, sound, kiss

Etymology

The sharp sound and the blow are probably borrowed from Middle Dutch smacken (“to strike, slap, throw”) or Middle Low German smacken,[14][7][1][6][9] words of imitative origin;[4][7][14] Barnhart, Etymonline and Klein treat the English verb as itself imitative, formed like the Low German and Dutch words.[8][3][15] Compare Dutch smakken (“to fling, dash”), German schmatzen (“to eat or kiss noisily”), Swedish smak (“slap”), Danish smæk and Lithuanian smogti (“to strike, knock down”).[8][3][15][7] The noun, the sound made by parting the lips, is recorded from 1570 and comes from the verb.[4][3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To part the lips with a sharp sound, especially in eating or as a sign of relish: 1557, in Seager's Schoole of Vertue.[4][8][9]

Semantic evolution

In 1570 the verb meant to kiss noisily and the noun was the sound of parted lips; a loud kiss is a smack from 1604.[4][8] Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew has a kiss with "such a clamorous smack".[7] From the crack of a whip (verb 1699, noun 1781)[4] the word passed to blows: a slap with the flat of the hand is a smack from 1775,[4] and the verb, to strike with the open hand, is recorded from 1835, in Dickens,[4][3] or from 1840, in Thackeray, according to Barnhart.[8] Ayto and Word Origins note that the hitting sense came only in the 19th century.[1][16] Cricket gave a powerful hit of the ball (noun 1875, verb 1882).[4] The adverb, suddenly and violently, dates from 1782, in Cowper, and "directly, squarely" from 1828;[4][9] the American smack-dab is from 1892.[3] In recent American slang smack is boastful or insulting talk between rivals.[9][17]

Timeline

  • 1557 – to part the lips noisily.[4][8]
  • 1570 – to kiss noisily; noun, the sound of parted lips.[4][8]
  • 1604 – a loud kiss.[4]
  • 1699 – to crack a whip.[4]
  • 1775 – a slap with the open hand.[4]
  • 1782 – adverb, suddenly and violently.[4][9]
  • 1835 – to strike with the open hand.[4][3]
  • 1875 – a powerful hit in cricket.[4]
  • 1892 – smack-dab, in American English.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To strike with the open hand or with something flat; to slap: She smacked the table in frustration.[9][4]
  2. To part the lips noisily, as in eating or relishing food; chiefly in smack one's lips.[9][4]
  3. To kiss loudly.[9][4]
  4. To put or bring down with a sharp sound: He smacked the book down on the desk.[9][4]

Noun

  1. A sharp blow with the open hand; any sharp, resounding blow.[9][4]
  2. A loud kiss.[9][4]
  3. A sharp sound made by parting the lips.[9][4]
  4. (US, informal) Boastful or insulting talk.[9][17]

Adverb

  1. Squarely and with sudden force; directly: The car ran smack into the hedge.[9][4]

Word family

  • smacker
  • smack-dab
  • smackdown

smack3 sailing boat

Etymology

The boat is probably borrowed from Dutch smak, earlier smacke, or Low German smakke,[4][8][3][9][7] a word of unknown origin according to the Shorter Oxford, Ayto and Collins.[7][1][13] Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster derive it from smakken (“to fling, dash”) or its Middle Dutch and Middle Low German source Middle Dutch smacken (“to strike, slap”), perhaps from the slapping of the sails;[8][3][9][15] Partridge suggests the waves smacking against its sides.[18] French semaque, Spanish zumaca and Italian semacca are probably borrowed from the Germanic word,[3][15] though the OED calls their relation to it uncertain.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A single-masted sailing vessel: 1611, in Cotgrave's dictionary;[8][4] Merriam-Webster gives 1533 as its first known use.[9]

Semantic evolution

The smack was rigged fore and aft like a sloop or cutter, was usually small, and was used chiefly for coasting or fishing.[4][9] In the United States the name was given from the late 19th century to a fishing vessel with a well in which the catch was kept alive, also called a well smack.[4][9]

Timeline

  • 1533 – first known use, according to Merriam-Webster.[9]
  • 1611 – a single-masted coasting or fishing vessel (Cotgrave).[4][8]
  • before 1891 – US, a fishing vessel with a well for live fish.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessel, such as a sloop or cutter, used for coasting or fishing.[9][4]
  2. A fishing boat with a well in which the catch is kept alive.[9][4]

smack4 heroin

Etymology

The drug is probably an alteration of schmeck, a narcotic drug, especially heroin (1932),[4][3][7][8] which is from Yiddish, from a noun meaning a sniff or smell and a verb meaning to sniff or smell,[8][9][5][3] from Middle High German smecken (“to taste, smell”),[8][9][5] from Old High German smecken.[9] It thus goes back to the same Germanic family as smack1, taste.[3][16] Merriam-Webster calls the Yiddish origin only possible.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A drug, especially heroin: 1942, in Berrey and Van den Bark's American Thesaurus of Slang.[4][3] Barnhart dates the sense "a small packet of drugs" to 1942 and "heroin" to 1960,[8] and Merriam-Webster gives about 1960.[9]

Semantic evolution

Green records smack beside smeck as early as 1938, for a packet of drugs, especially a card of opium.[17] The word began in American slang.[8][3][7]

Timeline

  • 1932 – the earlier form smeck (schmeck), a narcotic drug.[3][8]
  • 1938 – smack, a packet of drugs.[17]
  • 1942 – a drug, especially heroin.[4][3]
  • c. 1960 – heroin.[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (slang) Heroin.[9][4][7][17]

Word family

  • smackhead
  • smatch
  • schmeck

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  2. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  16. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  17. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  18. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul