The story
- Old English · inherited frombesmirwan
- Middle English · inherited from*bismerwen
- English todaybesmear
From Middle English *bismerwen, from Old English besmirwan, besmierwan (“to besmear”), equivalent to be- + smear. Cognate with Dutch besmeren (“to besmear”), German beschmieren (“to besmear”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.