smidgen
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Origin uncertain; possibly from smitch (“(originally Scotland, chiefly US) very small amount or quantity”)[1][2] + possibly -in (a variant of -ing (suffix forming nouns denoting things considered collectively)).[3] Smitch is possibly:
- derived from smitch (“smoke from a burning or smouldering thing; spot of dirt; blemish; dirt, grime”),[4] a variant of smeech (“(southwest England) (dense or pungent) smoke; airborne dust”),[5] from Middle English smeche, smek, smiche (“smoke from a burning or smouldering thing; cloud of smoke; fumes, vapour; smell”),[6] from Old English smēc, smīc (“smoke; steam; vapour”),[7] from Proto-West Germanic *smauki (“smoke”), related to Proto-Germanic *smeukaną (“to fume, smoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *smewgʰ- (“smoke”); or
- borrowed from Scots smitch (“smudge, stain; blemish; very small amount, speck, trace; small insignificant person”),[8][9] possibly a variant of English smutch (“dirty mark, smudge, stain; dirt, grime; slight indication”) (probably related to smudge, ultimate etymology unknown)[10][11] and influenced by English smit (“(UK, dialectal) a stain”).[12]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/, /-ən/
Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -ɪdʒɪn, -ɪdʒən
- Hyphenation: smidg‧en
Noun
[edit]smidgen (plural smidgens) (originally US, informal)
- Chiefly in the form a smidgen of: a very small amount or quantity; a bit, a trace.
- Synonyms: drop, pinch, smidge, smidget, smidgy, (originally Scotland, chiefly US) smitch, touch; see also Thesaurus:modicum
- Antonyms: see Thesaurus:lot
- Move it a smidgen to the right.
- Would you like some more cake? ―I’ll have a smidgen.
- 1889 February, “The Pipeses’ Party”, in Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours. Devoted to Light and Entertaining Literature, volume XLVI, New York, N.Y.: Mrs. Frank Leslie [Miriam Leslie], […], →OCLC, page 473, column 2:
- It's jest a meracle we wa'n't all blowed to smidgens, the hull b'ilin' lot of us.
- 1898, Francis Bartow Lloyd, “The Farmer and the Broncho”, in Lily C. Lloyd, editor, Sketches of Country Life: Humor, Wisdom and Pathos from the “Sage of Rocky Creek” […], Birmingham, Ala.: Press of Roberts & Son, →OCLC, page 80:
- He didn't look the least smidgen like our Mart Mayo, but if they was both on the track in a lyin match, whilst he might not beat old Mart, I am satisfied he would make the track devilish dusty for a few heats anyhow.
- 1907 September, Will[iam] N[athaniel] Harben, chapter XXXVII, in Mam’ Linda […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 304:
- I could listen to forty million men like this candidate expound his views and it wouldn't alter me one smidgen in the belief that Carson Dwight has acted only as a true Christian would.
- 1921, William Patterson White, “The Showdown”, in The Heart of the Range, Garden City, N.Y.; Toronto, Ont.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 187:
- Aw right, you go right in and tell 'em the truth, all of it, every last smidgen.
- 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 4, in Jeeves in the Offing, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1963 (1975 printing), →OCLC, page 37:
- ['][T]he girl's a pill like Phyllis, who always does what Daddy tells her.' / 'No will of her own?' / 'Not a smidgeon.[']
- (by extension) Chiefly in the form a smidgen of a: a very small or insignificant person or thing; also, an instance of such a person or thing.
- (small): Synonyms: (sometimes offensive) dwarf, (sometimes offensive) midget, pipsqueak, (informal) shorty
- (small): Antonyms: see Thesaurus:giant
- (insignificant): Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonentity
- (insignificant): Antonyms: see Thesaurus:important person
- 1952 September 19, John Steinbeck, chapter 23, in East of Eden, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, book 3, section 3, page 289:
- In fifty years, did you ever have a vacation, you little, silly, half-pint, smidgin of a wife?
- 1962 July, John Steinbeck, “Part 1”, in Travels with Charley in Search of America, London: William Heinemann, published 1962, →OCLC, page 106:
- Lucille wore one of those little smidgins of hats held on by inturned combs.
Alternative forms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]- a smidgen (adverb)
Translations
[edit]very small amount or quantity
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References
[edit]- ^ “smitch, n.2”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.
- ^ “smitch, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.;
- ^ “smidgen, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.
- ^ “smitch, n.1”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024.
- ^ “smeech, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “smeech1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “smẹ̄k(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ Joseph Bosworth (1882) “smīc”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, pages 888–889.
- ^ “smidgen, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “smidgen (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ “smutch, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.
- ^ “smutch, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- ^ “smitch, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *smewgʰ-
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Scots
- English terms borrowed back into English
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪdʒɪn
- Rhymes:English/ɪdʒɪn/2 syllables
- Rhymes:English/ɪdʒən
- Rhymes:English/ɪdʒən/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- American English
- English informal terms
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations