smidgen
/ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.29 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Move it a smidgen to the right."
- "Would you like some more cake? ―I’ll have a smidgen."
- "Unkle Will says when he tould her to mind the siggering in the Crock,—she run to the Spence for a smidgen of skalded cream."
- "It's jest a meracle we wa'n't all blowed to smidgens, the hull b'ilin' lot of us."
- "He didn't look the least smidgen like our Mart Mayo, but if they was both on the track in a lyin match, whilst he might not beat old Mart, I am satisfied he would make the track devilish dusty for a few heats anyhow."
- "I could listen to forty million men like this candidate expound his views and it wouldn't alter me one smidgen in the belief that Carson Dwight has acted only as a true Christian would."
Etymology
Origin uncertain; possibly from smitch (“(originally Scotland, chiefly US) very small amount or quantity”) + possibly -in (a variant of -ing (suffix forming nouns denoting things considered collectively)). Smitch is possibly: * derived from smitch (“smoke from a burning or smouldering thing; spot of dirt; blemish; dirt, grime”), a variant of smeech (“(southwest England) (dense or pungent) smoke; airborne dust”), from Middle English smeche, smek, smiche (“smoke from a burning or smouldering thing; cloud of smoke; fumes, vapour; smell”), from Old English smēc, smīc (“smoke; steam; vapour”), from Proto-West Germanic *smauki (“smoke”), related to Proto-Germanic *smeukaną (“to fume, smoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *smewgʰ- (“smoke”); or * borrowed from Scots smitch (“smudge, stain; blemish; very small amount, speck, trace; small insignificant person”), possibly a variant of English smutch (“dirty mark, smudge, stain; dirt, grime; slight indication”) (probably related to smudge, ultimate etymology unknown) and influenced by English smit (“(UK, dialectal) a stain”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/
- British English: /ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/