smite

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English smīten,^[2][3] inherited from Old English smītan (“to smear, daub; to pollute”),^[4][5][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *smītaną.^[1][8] It is cognate with Old Frisian smīta (“to throw, strike”), Middle Dutch smiten (“to strike, throw”), Dutch smijten (“to throw”), Middle Low German smīten (“to strike, throw”), Old High German smīzan (“to smear”), German schmeißen (“to throw, strike, smear”), Swedish smita, Danish smide^[4][9][10] and Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌼𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bismeitan, “to anoint”).^[10][11][12] Beyond Germanic, the OED says only that it is perhaps from an extended form of the base of Latin macula (“spot”).^[4][10] Klein and Barnhart reconstruct Proto-Indo-European *smeid-, which Klein takes as an enlargement of *smē(i)- (“to smear, rub”).^[10][9] Comparisons include an Armenian word for dirt, Proto-Slavic *smědъ (“dark brown”) and Ancient Greek σμήω (smḗō, “to smear”).^[8][11][9] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds a possible link with Latin mittō (“to let go, send”).^[11] The Shorter Oxford thinks the word is probably symbolic in the end, comparing smirch, smudge and smut.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To smear a substance on something, or to pollute or stain: early Old English, in Bald's Leechbook and the Corpus Glossary,^[4] before 800 in Barnhart's dating.^[9] Bosworth-Toller gives recipes telling the reader to mix a remedy and smít on, smear it on, and a Gospel gloss in which what comes out of the mouth defiles a man.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The OED finds that both strands, "to throw, strike" and "to smear", go back to Germanic, calls the connection between them unclear, and reports the suggestion that they meet in slapping mud on to walls for wattle and daub,^[4] an idea Etymonline attributes to Watkins.^[6] Klein likewise took "throw" as the original meaning,^[10] while Ayto supposes an intermediate "stroke", and compares the same development in strike.^[14] In Old English the plain verb is much less frequent than prefixed besmītan and "to strike" is recorded only late; the OED suggests that this sense may have belonged to a variety of the language poorly represented in the records.^[4] One sign of the change is Matthew 26:68, where the later manuscript has smat and the earlier slóh.^[5] In Middle English "strike" quickly took over, and the "smear" senses died out by 1398.^[4] Biblical use then extended the word to God afflicting or punishing and to killing in battle.^[6][4][9] Collins now labels the verb chiefly archaic.^[15] The figurative "touch with passion" dates from about 1200 in Etymonline, and the sense "inflame with love", chiefly in the participle smitten, from 1663, in Pepys.^[6][9] Johnson (1755) lists "to affect with any passion", and quotes Milton's "Smit with the love of sacred song".^[16] Cricket writing has used it for a very hard hit since the 1860s.^[4] In Dorset and west Somerset a smith's assistant still smote in the 19th century, striking with the sledge while the smith hammered.^[17]

Timeline

• Old English – to smear; to pollute or stain (obsolete by 1398).^[4][5]
• late Old English – to deal a blow; of God, to afflict or punish.^[4] Etymonline dates “to hit, strike” to the late 12th century, and Barnhart to before 1200.^[6][9]
• before 1200 – noun, a heavy blow.^[4]
• c. 1200 – to hit a person or thing forcefully.^[4][6]
• c. 1275 – to strike with a weapon, to injure or kill.^[4]
• before 1382 – to strike the strings of a musical instrument; in biblical allusion, to strike down in battle.^[4]
• 1663 – to inflame with love.^[9]
• 1843 – noun, a tiny amount.^[4]
• 1861 – noun, in cricket, a very hard hit.^[4] The verb follows in 1868.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic) To strike hard, especially with the hand or a weapon: He smote the door with his fist.^[15][11][4]
2. (archaic) To strike down or kill; to defeat.^[4][16][9]
3. (archaic) Of God, to afflict or punish.^[15][4][16]
4. To affect suddenly and strongly, especially with love, usually as smitten: She was smitten with her new neighbour.^[15][16][9]
5. To deal a blow; to strike suddenly on something: The heat smote down on the marchers.^[15][4]
6. (archaic) To strike or pluck the strings of an instrument.^[11][4]
7. To hit a ball very hard, chiefly in cricket.^[4]
8. (obsolete, Old English–1398) To smear; to stain or pollute.^[4][5]

Noun

1. A heavy blow.^[11][4][13]
2. A very hard hit, chiefly in cricket.^[4]
3. A tiny amount, chiefly in the United States and in British dialect: not a smite of sense.^[4][13][17]

Word family

• smiter

Related words

• smitten
• besmite
• smegma

Usage notes

The past tense is smote, and the past participle smitten, with archaic or dialect smit.^[11][15][13] A separate noun smite, probably a rope at a lower corner of a sail, is recorded from 1494 to 1612, and is taken from Middle Low German smīte.^[4] The English Dialect Dictionary records smite "a small portion, a mite" across Scotland, Ireland and northern, Midland and East Anglian England, as in not a smite.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
13. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b c d Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ a b c 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)