Etymology

smartness

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Today it means: The state or quality of being smart, intelligence. Full definition →

Middle English smartnesse
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromsmartnesse
  2. English todaysmartness

From Middle English smartnesse, smertnesse, equivalent to smart + -ness. Cognate with Middle Dutch smartenisse (“pain, injury, insult, scorn, agony”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.