Etymology

smear

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Today it means: To spread (a substance, especially one that colours or is dirty) across a surface by rubbing. Full definition →

Middle English smeren ← Old English smerian ← Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*smirwijaną
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*smirwijan
  3. Old English · inherited fromsmerian
  4. Middle English · inherited fromsmeren
  5. English todaysmear

From Middle English smeren, smerien, from Old English smerian, smyrian, smierwan (“to anoint or rub with grease, oil, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan, from Proto-Germanic *smirwijaną. Doublet of schmear. Cognate with Saterland Frisian smeere, Dutch smeren (“to smear, lubricate”), Low German smeren, German schmieren (“to smear, lubricate”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål smøre (“to lubricate”), Norwegian Nynorsk smørja (“to lubricate”), Swedish smörja (“to grease”), Faroese and Icelandic smyrja.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.