smear

英文词源

smear

smear: [OE] Smear comes from a prehistoric Germanic *smerwjan, which also produced German schmieren, Dutch smeren, Swedish smörja, and Danish smøre. The Swedish and Danish words for ‘butter’, smör and smør, come from the same source (the former is the first element in the compound smörgåsbord ‘opensandwich table’, literally ‘butter goose table’, from which English gets smorgasbord [19]). Also closely related are Irish smir ‘marrow’ and Greek smúris ‘polishing powder’ (source of English emery [15]).
=> emery, smorgasbord

smear (n.)

"mark or stain left by smearing," 1610s, from smear (v.). Sense of "small quantity prepared for microscopic examination" is from 1903. Meaning "a quantity of cream cheese, etc., smeared on a bagel" is by 1999, from Yiddish shmir. The earliest noun sense in English is "fat, grease, ointment" (c. 1200), from Old English had smeoru "fat, grease," cognate with Middle Dutch smere, Dutch smeer, German Schmer "grease, fat" (Yiddish schmir), Danish smør, Swedish smör "butter."

smear (v.)

Old English smerian, smierwan "to anoint or rub with grease, oil, etc.," from Proto-Germanic *smerwjan "to spread grease on" (cognates: Old Norse smyrja "to anoint, rub with ointment," Danish smøre, Swedish smörja, Dutch smeren, Old High German smirwen "apply salve, smear," German schmieren "to smear;" Old Norse smör "butter"), from PIE *smeru- "grease" (cognates: Greek myron "unguent, balsam," Old Irish smi(u)r "marrow," Old English smeoru "fat, grease, ointment, tallow, lard, suet," Lithuanian smarsas "fat").

Figurative sense of "assault a public reputation with unsubstantiated charges" is from 1879. Related: Smeared; smearing. Smear-word, one used regardless of its literal meaning but invested with invective, is from 1938.