Etymology

smarting

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Today it means: Painful, sore. Full definition →

Middle English smertyng ← Old English smeortung
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromsmeortung
  2. Middle English · inherited fromsmertyng
  3. English todaysmarting

From Middle English smertyng, smertinge, from Old English smeortung, smertung (“smarting, itching”), equivalent to smart + -ing.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.