Etymologically
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smoky

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is formed from English smoke + -y,[2][3][4][5] and appears first as inherited from Middle English smoki, also smokei.[6][3] The noun continues late Old English smoca (“smoke”), which is related to smeocan (“to give off smoke”) and comes from Proto-Germanic *smuk-, the source also of Middle Dutch smooc, Dutch smook and German Schmauch, from Proto-Indo-European *smeug- (“to smoke; smoke”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Giving off a lot of smoke: 1310, in a life of Saint Brendan,[2] about 1300 in the MED and Etymonline.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word already covered "full of smoke", "darkened by smoke" and "like smoke, misty", and it could also describe fumes in the body.[6] Chaucer used it once, of something smoke-like or foggy.[7] The senses of flavour (1542) and colour (1555) followed in the 16th century,[2][3] as did a figurative use, "obscuring, without substance", now obsolete.[2][5] A smoky chimney, one that sends its smoke into the room, is recorded from before 1641,[2] and Johnson (1755) defined the word as "emitting smoke" and "having the appearance of smoke".[8] The word was used of voices by 1834,[3] and of the sound of a musical instrument or voice from 1958;[2] the smoky eye make-up technique dates from 1974.[3] In 17th-century cant smoky meant jealous or suspicious,[9][10] in 19th-century American slang drunk,[9] and in Lincolnshire dialect low or mean; in Scotland a smoky was a cured Finnan haddock.[11] Some later slang uses as a noun were offensive names for Black people in the United States and for Indigenous people in Canada.[9][12][13]

Timeline

  • 1310 – giving off a lot of smoke.[2]
  • c. 1374 – like smoke in appearance, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.[2][7]
  • 1398 – full of smoke.[2]
  • 1533 – obscuring or unsubstantial, like smoke (obsolete).[2]
  • 1542 – tasting or smelling of smoke.[2][3]
  • 1548 – blackened by smoke.[2]
  • 1555 – of the colour of smoke; dusky grey.[2][3]
  • before 1641 – of a chimney, sending smoke into the room.[2]
  • 1688 – in cant, jealous.[9]
  • 1797 – in names of stones, such as smoky quartz.[2]
  • 1958 – of a voice or the sound of an instrument.[2] Etymonline dates the use of voices to 1834.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Giving off smoke, especially too much of it or in the wrong place: a smoky stove.[2][5][14]
  2. Full of smoke: a smoky bar.[2][14]
  3. Like smoke in appearance; hazy or misty.[2][5][14]
  4. Tasting or smelling of smoke, as food cured by smoking: a smoky cheese.[2][5][14]
  5. Of the colour of smoke; a dusky, bluish or brownish grey.[2][14]
  6. Darkened or dirtied by smoke.[2][14]
  7. Of a voice or musical sound, low and slightly husky.[2][3]
  8. (obsolete) Obscuring or without substance, like smoke.[2][5]

Word family

  • smokily
  • smokiness
  • unsmoky
  • smoky quartz

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c 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)
  7. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  10. ^ Skeat, Walter W.; Mayhew, A. L. (1914), A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ 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)
  12. ^ Dollinger, Stefan, ed., A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, 3rd ed. (online), Vancouver: University of British Columbia, dchp.arts.ubc.ca
  13. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins