smirk
/smɝk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.04 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The bride, all smirk and blush, had just entered."
- "We sat at a long table with a huge salmon on a platter in the center, prepared Szechuan style. Dad sat at one end of the table, and regaled all present with his stories. In the middle of one convoluted yarn, he rose and went around to the salmon in the center of the table. Using his fingers, he dug an eyeball out of the fish, popped it in his mouth and swallowed it whole as we looked on, aghast. “A real delicacy,” he said, with a boyish smirk."
- "So smirk, so smooth, his pricked Ears."
Etymology
From Middle English smirken, from Old English smearcian (“to smile”), corresponding to smerian + -cian (English -k; compare talk and stalk from, respectively, tell and steal). The former element from Proto-Germanic *smarōną (“to mock, scoff at”), and the latter from Proto-Germanic *-kōną. Compare Middle High German smielen/smieren (“to smile”) ( > obsolete, rare German schmieren). Doublet of smile. The specific meaning of a mocking or unpleasant, malicious smile or grin develops in Early Modern English, but until the 18th century, it could still be used to describe a generic smile.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: smirken, smearcian, *smarōną, *-kōną
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /smɝk/
- British English: /smɜːk/
Usage
Inflected Forms
smirks (plural)
smerk (alternative)
smirke (alternative)
smirks (present, singular)
smirking (participle, present)
smirked (participle, past)
smirked (past)
more smirk (comparative)
most smirk (superlative)