Etymology

smile

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Today it means: A facial expression comprised by flexing the muscles of both ends of one's mouth, often showing the front teeth, without vocalisation, and in humans is a common involuntary or voluntary expression of happiness, pleasure, amusement, goodwill, or anxiety. Full definition →

Middle English smilen ← Middle Low German *smîlen ← Middle High German smielen
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*smey-“to laugh, be glad, wonder”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*smīlāną“to smile”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*smīlēn
  4. Old High German · derived fromsmielēn
  5. Middle High German · derived fromsmielen
  6. Middle Low German · derived from*smîlen“to smile”
  7. Middle English · inherited fromsmilen“to smile”
  8. English todaysmile

From Middle English smilen (“to smile”), from Middle Low German *smîlen (“to smile”), from Middle High German smielen, from Old High German smielēn, from Proto-West Germanic *smīlēn, from Proto-Germanic *smīlāną (“to smile”), from Proto-Indo-European *smey- (“to laugh, be glad, wonder”). Cognate with Danish smile, Swedish smila, Faroese smíla (“to smile”); also Saterland Frisian smielje (“to smile”), Low German smielen (“to smile”), Dutch smuilen (“to smile”), Middle High German smielen (“to smile”). Related also to Old High German smierōn (“to smile”), Old English smerian (“to laugh at”), Old English smercian, smearcian ("to smile"; > English smirk), Latin mīror (“to wonder at”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*smey- all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.