Smut
/smʌt/noun
Dirty soot or grime; also, obscene or sexually explicit material.
Did you know?The word’s older sense is physical dirt or soot, and only much later did it become a label for sexual obscenity, showing how language turns material filth into moral panic.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
smyttan
“to stain or dirty”
Middle English
ME
smutten
“to blacken with soot or soil”
16th Century
English
smut
“soot, stain, black dirt”
18th Century
English
smut
“obscene writing or speech”
Modern English
English
smut
“dirty matter; sexually explicit material”