smelly

English

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *smel-

Proto-West Germanic *smalljan

Old English *smiellan

Middle English smellen

English smell

English -y

English smelly

From smell + -y.

Pronunciation

• enPR: smĕlʹē, IPA^(key): /ˈsmɛli/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛli

Adjective

smelly (comparative smellier, superlative smelliest)

1. Having a bad smell.

   She was hesitant to remove her shoes, as her socks were rather smelly.

2. (figuratively) Having a quality that arouses suspicion.

   The detective read the documents and thought, "Something sure is smelly about this case."

3. (figuratively, computing, slang, in extreme programming) Having signs that suggest a design problem; having a code smell.

   That smelly code needs to be refactored.

Synonyms

• (having a bad smell): fetid, foul-smelling, malodorous, rank, stinky (slang), whiffy (slang); see also Thesaurus:malodorous
• (having a quality that arouses suspicion): dodgy (informal), doubtful, dubious, suspect, suspicious

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “having a bad smell”): aromatic, fragrant, sweet-smelling
• (antonym(s) of “having a quality that arouses suspicion”): above board, clean

Derived terms

• smellily
• smelliness
• smelly freckle
• unsmelly

Translations

having a bad smell

• Arabic: مُنْتِن (muntin)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bashkir: һаҫыҡ (haśıq)
• Bulgarian: воня́щ (bg) (vonjášt), зловонен (bg) (zlovonen)
• Catalan: pudent (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臭 (zh) (chòu)

• Czech: smradlavý (cs)
• Danish: ildelugtende
• Esperanto: malbonodora, odoraĉa, fetora, haladza
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: pahanhajuinen (fi), haiseva (fi)
• French: puant (fr) m, puante (fr) f, malodorant (fr)
• Galician: cheirento (gl) m, fedorento m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: stinkend (de)
• Hebrew: מסריח m (masríakh)
• Hmong:

  White Hmong: tsw phem

• Hungarian: büdös (hu)
• Italian: puzzolente (it) m or f, puzzoso m, fetente (it) m or f, fetido (it) m, maleodorante (it) m or f, graveolente m or f
• Japanese: 臭い (ja) (くさい, kusai)
• Khmer: ផ្ដុស (km) (pdoh)
• Korean: 냄새나는 (naemsae-naneun), 지독한 (jidok-han)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: odōrus
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: busuk (ms)
• Maltese: jinten m
• Māori: haunga, piro, kenokeno, whakapiro
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nepali: गनाउने (ganāune)
• Polish: śmierdzący (pl), cuchnący (pl), smrodliwy (pl)
• Portuguese: fedorento (pt)
• Romanian: mirositor (ro)
• Russian: воню́чий (ru) (vonjúčij), ду́рно па́хнущий (dúrno páxnuščij), злово́нный (ru) (zlovónnyj)
• Spanish: maloliente (es)
• Swedish: illaluktande (sv)
• Tagalog: mabaho
• Thai: เหม็น (th) (měn)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: thối (vi), thúi (vi), hôi (vi), khắm (vi)
• Volapük: lusmelik
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

having a quality that arouses suspicion

• Bulgarian: съмнителен (bg) (sǎmnitelen)
• Czech: podezřelý (cs)
• Finnish: epäilyttävä (fi)
• Italian: sospetto (it) m

computing: of inferior quality

• Finnish: surkea (fi), onneton (fi)

Noun

smelly (plural smellies)

1. (rare) A smelly person.
   • 1965, Richard Dowling, chapter 31, in All the Beautiful People, London: Arthur Barker Limited […], page 228:

     And I can get home myself, thank you. Little smelly.

   • 2000, Ian Whybrow, Little Wolf’s Postbag, London: Collins, →ISBN, page 45:

     Or if you know any piglets with water pistols, maybe you could throw them a bottle of gargle and say, ‘Hoy you smellies, I bet you can’t squirt the little dangly thing up the dark end of my gob with this’.

   • 2009 June, “Anti-Fascism in Liverpool: Action! Race War to Door Wars [Review]”, in KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library, number 58-9, London: Kate Sharpley Library, →ISSN, page 7, column 1:

     However, according to [Joey] Owens, these anarchists are all a bunch of smellies, who run away “screaming” while forever being hit over the head with iron bars by victorious fascists.

   • [2012, Joe O’Neill, Wrath of the Caid (The Red Hand Adventures; II), [Hood River, Ore.]: Black Ship Publishing, →ISBN, page 92:

     Both of them had been called “little smellies,” because Hillie insisted their breath reeked of garlic and fish.]

   • 2014, Shweta Taneja, Cult of Chaos: An Anantya Tantrist Mystery, Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins Publishers India, →ISBN, page 212:

     I have two little smellies to think of too. Family is big and cost of living in this city is increasing by the day.

Etymology 2

A comical pronunciation of the initials SMLE.

Noun

smelly (plural smellies)

1. (firearms, informal) a Short Magazine Lee Enfield rifle or one of its derivatives.

Anagrams

• mysell