smidgen

English

WOTD – 24 May 2025

Etymology

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

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/, /-ən/
Audio (General American): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪdʒɪn, -ɪdʒən
Hyphenation: smidg‧en

Noun

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.
- [1824], Robin Baragwaneth [pseudonym], The Wooden Horse, for the Rounder, and the Horse without a Head. […], Penzance, Cornwall: […] J. Thomas, →OCLC, page 10:
  Unkle Will says when he tould her to mind the siggering in the Crock,—she run to the Spence for a smidgen of skalded cream.
- 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

smidgeon, smidgin

Derived terms

a smidgen (adverb)

Translations

very small amount or quantity

Asturian: pinta (ast) f
Bulgarian: малко количество (malko količestvo), парченце (bg) (parčence)
Catalan: busca (ca) f, engruna (ca) f (figurative), esquitx (ca) m, volva (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 少量 (zh) (shǎoliàng), 微量 (zh) (wēiliàng)
Finnish: hippunen, hitunen (fi), hiukkanen (fi), rahtu (fi)
French: chouïa (fr)
German: Quäntchen (de) n, Quentchen (de) n
Greek: δράμι (el) n (drámi) (figurative)
Hungarian: csipet (hu) (figurative, hyperbolic)
Irish: ruainnín m
Japanese: ちょっぴり (ja) (choppiri) (adverb), 少量 (ja) (しょうりょう, shōryō)
Korean: 소량 (ko) (soryang)
Maori: ngarengare
Norwegian:
Bokmål: dæsj m, smule m

Nynorsk: please add this translation if you can
Ottoman Turkish: آوج (avuc), هیچ (hiç), پارچه (parça)
Polish: kapka (pl) f, źdźbło (pl) n (figurative), ździebko (pl) n (informal)
Portuguese: bocadinho m, cadinho (pt) m (informal), chichizinho m (Portugal, informal), nadinha m, poucochinho m, pouquinho m, tiquito (pt) m (Brazil, informal)
Romanian: bucățică (ro) f, câtime (ro) f
Russian: чу́точка (ru) f (čútočka), ка́пля (ru) f (káplja), ма́лость (ru) f (málostʹ)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: дјѐлић m, кома̀дић m, мр̏ва f (figurative), мр̏вица f (figurative)

Roman: djèlić (sh) m, komàdić (sh) m, mȑva (sh) f (figurative), mȑvica (sh) f (figurative)
Swedish: gnutta (sv) c, smula (sv) c
Turkish: nebze (tr)
Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
Vietnamese: vi lượng (vi) (微量)
Welsh: mymryn m

very small person or thing — see dwarf,‎ midget,‎ shorty

very insignificant person or thing — see nobody,‎ nonentity

References

^ “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

Demings, Dengism

[1] “smitch, n.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.

[2] “smitch, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.;

[3] “smidgen, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.

[4] “smitch, n.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024.

[5] “smeech, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “smeech¹, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

[6] “smẹ̄k(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

[7] Joseph Bosworth (1882) “smīc”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, pages 888–889.

[8] “smidgen, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

[9] Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “smidgen (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

[10] “smutch, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.

[11] “smutch, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

[12] “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.

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