smuggler

Etymology

It is borrowed from Low German smukkeler, Dutch smokkelaar or Low German smuggeler,^[2][3][4] which compare German Schmuggler and Swedish smugglare.^[2] The Low German noun is formed from smuggeln (“to smuggle”), and the Dutch one from smokkelen.^[4][5] The noun is recorded earlier than the English verb smuggle, which the OED dates to before 1687.^[2] Etymonline takes the verbs as apparently frequentatives of a word meaning "to sneak", from Proto-Germanic *smeuganą, the source of Old English smūgan (“to creep”) and Old Norse smjúga (“to creep through a hole”).^[6][7][8] The OED calls the origin of the term, and the relationship of the forms in -k- and -g-, unclear.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who smuggles goods: 1661, in a proclamation of 9 August.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1660s.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first sense, especially of someone who makes a trade of smuggling.^[2][3] Johnson (1755) defined a smuggler as a wretch who imports or exports goods in defiance of the law, either contraband or without paying the customs.^[9] From 1799 the word was also used of a vessel employed in smuggling.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1661 – a person who smuggles goods.^[2]
• 1799 – a ship or boat used for smuggling.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who smuggles goods or people into or out of a country secretly and against the law, especially to avoid customs duties: The coastguard caught the smugglers on the beach.^[4][2][9]
2. A ship or boat used for smuggling.^[4][2]

Related words

• smuggle
• smuggling

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.