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smirch.

Dirt, or a stain.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/smɜː(ɹ)t͡ʃ/

  1. Dirt, or a stain.

    archaic · countable · uncountable

  2. A stain on somebody's reputation.

    archaic · countable · figuratively · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *smorchen ("to spatter, soil"; attested in besmorchid (“bespattered, soiled all over”)), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a derivative of Middle English smeoren, smuren, smeren (“to smear”) or related to Middle English smotry (“sooty, grimy”). Compare also Middle English bismotered (“bespattered, soiled”), Old French esmorcher (“to torture”), Middle English smoterly, smoterlich (“besmirched”), modern English smut.

verb/smɜː(ɹ)t͡ʃ/

  1. To dirty; to make dirty.

    archaic · transitive

  2. To harm the reputation of; to smear or slander.

    archaic · figuratively · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *smorchen ("to spatter, soil"; attested in besmorchid (“bespattered, soiled all over”)), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a derivative of Middle English smeoren, smuren, smeren (“to smear”) or related to Middle English smotry (“sooty, grimy”). Compare also Middle English bismotered (“bespattered, soiled”), Old French esmorcher (“to torture”), Middle English smoterly, smoterlich (“besmirched”), modern English smut.

noun/smɜː(ɹ)t͡ʃ/

  1. A chirp of radiation power from an astronomical body that has a smeared appearance on its plot in the time-frequency plane (usually associated with massive bodies orbiting supermassive black holes)

Where this word comes from

Blend of smear + chirp.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.