Smirch
/smɜːrtʃ/noun
To stain, soil, or damage someone’s reputation.
Did you know?Smirch developed both a physical sense—making something dirty—and a figurative sense of tarnishing honor, showing how reputation has long been imagined as a surface that can be stained.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic period
Germanic
*smerw- / *smer-
“A Germanic root associated with smearing or rubbing material across a surface; the precise ancestry of smirch is uncertain.”
Middle English
Middle English
smerchen
“To soil or stain; a probable earlier form related to smirch and smear.”
15th–16th Century
English
smirche
“To dirty or besmear.”
16th Century
English
smirch
“To stain physically, especially with dirt or grease.”
17th Century
English
smirch
“To tarnish a person’s character or reputation.”
Modern English
English
smirch
“To soil, stain, or figuratively damage someone’s good name.”