smith
/smɪθ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.89 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A craftsperson who works metal into desired forms using a hammer and other tools, sometimes heating the metal to make it more workable, especially a blacksmith.
name
An English surname originating as an occupation (the most common in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand).
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The smiths themselves were a grand lot of fellows, full of a robust, and sometimes Rabelaisian sense of humour, and between "heats," they could be most entertaining."
- "Sigurd took the very best sword That the Dwarfs had ever smithed."
- "Patingham selmonger, who, as it was reported, reneuced the Arians opinion before he dyed. The xvi. daye were burned [at the stake], at Staines. Robert Smith[,] painter, who in the tyme of his imprisonment, wrate byuers thinges in Metre, which were after put in print. At Stortford Stephan Harwoode Alebruer. And at Ware Thomas Fuſſe Jerkenmaker."
- "This ſyſtem, as it was much eſteemed by many antient fathers of the chriſtian church, ſo after the reformation it was adopted by feveral divines of the moſt eminent piety and learning and of the moſt amiable manners; particularly, by Dr. Ralph Cudworth, by Dr. Henry More, and by Mr. John Smith of Cambridge."
- "John is a most excellent name, and Smith is a surname which is worthy of respect and honor, but wo to the man on whom they are conjoined! For John Smith to aspire to senatorial dignities or to the laurel of a poet is simply ridiculous. Who is John Smith? He is lost in the multitude of John Smiths, and individual fame is impossible."
- "[Smith is] Common to every village in England, north, south, east, and west. There are 300,000 Smiths in England."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *smiþaz Proto-West Germanic *smiþ Old English smiþ Middle English smyth English smith From Middle English smeth, smith, smiþ, smið, smyth, smythe, smyþ, smyþe, from Old English smiþ, from Proto-West Germanic *smiþ, from Proto-Germanic *smiþaz (“smith”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *smey- (“to smear, spread”). Cognates Cognate with Alemannic German Schmid, schméd, schmét, schmìd (“smith”), Bavarian schmidt, schmit, sghmiid (“smith”), Cimbrian smit, smitt (“smith”), Dutch smid (“smith”), German Schmied, Schmidt (“smith”), Low German Smidd, Smitt (“smith”), Luxembourgish Schmadd (“smith”), Mòcheno schmi' (“smith”), Vilamovian śmejt (“blacksmith”), Yiddish שמיד (shmid, “blacksmith, smith”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish smed (“smith”), Elfdalian smið (“smith”), Faroese and Icelandic smiður (“smith”), Gothic *𐍃𐌼𐌹𐌸𐌰 (*smiþa, “smith”) (whence 𐌰𐌹𐌶𐌰𐍃𐌼𐌹𐌸𐌰 (aizasmiþa, “coppersmith”)); also Greek σμίλη (smíli, “chisel”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: smeth, smiþ, *smiþ, *smiþaz, *smey-, smythen