Etymology

smirk

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Today it means: An uneven, often crooked smile that is insolent, self-satisfied, conceited or scornful. Full definition →

Middle English smirken ← Old English smearcian ← Proto-Germanic *smarōną
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*-kōną
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*smarōną“to mock, scoff at”
  3. Old English · inherited fromsmearcian“to smile”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromsmirken
  5. English todaysmirk

From Middle English smirken, from Old English smearcian (“to smile”), corresponding to smerian + -cian (English -k; compare talk and stalk from, respectively, tell and steal). The former element from Proto-Germanic *smarōną (“to mock, scoff at”), and the latter from Proto-Germanic *-kōną. Compare Middle High German smielen/smieren (“to smile”) ( > obsolete, rare German schmieren). Doublet of smile. The specific meaning of a mocking or unpleasant, malicious smile or grin develops in Early Modern English, but until the 18th century, it could still be used to describe a generic smile.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.