Etymology

smolder

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Today it means: To burn slowly, giving off smoke but with little to no flame. Full definition →

Middle English smolderen ← Proto-West Germanic *smolōn
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*smolōn“to burn, glow, fume, smoulder”
  2. Middle English · derived fromsmolder“smoke, smoky vapour”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromsmolderen“to suffocate, stifle”
  4. English todaysmolder

From Middle English smolderen (“to suffocate, stifle”), from Middle English smolder (“smoke, smoky vapour”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *smolōn (“to burn, glow, fume, smoulder”). Related to Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (> English smell).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.