smug

See also: Smug

English

Etymology

Possibly from Middle Low German smuk (“lithe, delicate, neat, trim”) although the g of the English word is not easily explained. From the Low German derived also North Frisian smok, Danish smuk and Swedish smukk (now obsolete or dialectal). The ultimate source should be Proto-Germanic *smeuganą.

Compare Middle High German gesmuc (“ornament”) and smücken (“to dress, to adorn”), both ultimately from smiegen (“to press to, insert, wrap, to nestle”), hence German schmiegen, Schmuck and schmücken. The adjective schmuck, however, was borrowed from Low German. See smock for more.

Pronunciation

• enPR: smŭg, IPA^(key): /smʌɡ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

Adjective

smug (comparative smugger, superlative smuggest)

1. Irritatingly pleased with oneself; offensively self-complacent, self-satisfied.

   Kate looked extremely smug this morning.

2. Showing smugness; showing self-complacency, self-satisfaction.

   a smug look on her face

3. (obsolete) Studiously neat or nice, especially in dress; spruce; affectedly precise; smooth and prim.
   • 1556, Raphe Robynson, More’s Utopia: The English Translation thereof

     They be so smug and smooth.

   • 1828, Thomas De Quincey, Elements of Rhetoric (published in Blackwood's Magazine)

     the smug and scanty draperies of his style

   • c. 1621, John Fletcher; Philip Massinger, “The Pilgrim”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972, Act I, scene ii:

     A young, smug, handsome holiness has no fellow.

Synonyms

• gloaty
• self-satisfied
• complacent
• See also Thesaurus:arrogant

Derived terms

• smugly
• smugness

Translations

irritatingly pleased with oneself; self-satisfied

• Bulgarian: самодоволен (bg) (samodovolen)
• Catalan: ufà (ca), petulant
• Chinese:

  Literary Chinese: 躊躇 (chóuchú)

  Mandarin: 得意 (zh) (déyì), 自滿 (zh), 自满 (zh) (zìmǎn)

• Czech: nafoukaný
• Danish: selvfed, selvgod
• Dutch: zelfingenomen (nl)
• Faroese: sjálvglaður, sjálvgóður
• Finnish: omahyväinen (fi), itseriittoinen (fi), itsetyytyväinen (fi)
• French: auto-satisfait (fr) m, suffisant (fr) m, fat (fr) m
• Galician: oufano, fachendoso (gl), pimpante, xactancioso, fanfurriñeiro (gl)
• Georgian: თვითკმაყოფილი (tvitḳmaq̇opili)
• German: blasiert (de), eingebildet (de), selbstgefällig (de), süffisant (de), selbstzufrieden, dünkelhaft (de), arrogant (de), überheblich (de)
• Greek: αυτάρεσκος (el) m (aftáreskos)
• Hebrew: זחוח‎ (he) m
• Hungarian: önelégült (hu)
• Italian: compiaciuto (it) m, autocompiaciuto m
• Japanese: 独り善がり (ja) (ひとりよがり, hitoriyogari), 調子に乗る (chōshi ni noru)
• Maori: whakaī, whakakake
• Norwegian: selvgod
• Portuguese: presunçoso (pt), convencido (pt)
• Punjabi: ^{(please verify)} ਆਪਣੇ ਆਪ ਵਿੱਚ ਮਸਤ (āpaṇe āpa vicca masat), ਮਨਮੌਜੀ (manmaujī)
• Romanian: îngâmfat (ro) m
• Russian: самодово́льный (ru) (samodovólʹnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: samozadovoljan (sh) m
• Slovak: samoľúby
• Spanish: ufano (es), engreído (es), petulante (es), creído (es)
• Swedish: självgod (sv), självbelåten (sv), mallig (sv)
• Ukrainian: самовдово́лений (samovdovólenyj)
• Westrobothnian: vättanes

Verb

smug (third-person singular simple present smugs, present participle smugging, simple past and past participle smugged)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To make smug, or spruce.
   • 1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I. Browne; I. Helme; I. Busbie, published 1613, OCLC 1049089293:

     Thus said, he smug'd his beard, and stroked up fair.

2. (obsolete, transitive, slang) To seize; to confiscate.
3. (obsolete, transitive, slang) To hush up.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for smug in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)

Further reading

• smug in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• smug in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams

• Gums, MGUs, gums, mugs

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Danish

Etymology

From Danish smyge.

Noun

smug

1. in secret, hidden

Derived terms

• i smug

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Irish

Pronunciation

• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /sˠmˠʌɡ/

Noun

smug f (genitive singular smuige, nominative plural smuga)

1. Ulster form of smuga (“mucus, snot”)

Declension

Declension of smug

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative smug smuga Vocative a smug a smuga Genitive smuige smug Dative smug smuig (archaic, dialectal) smuga

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an smug na smuga Genitive na smuige na smug Dative leis an smug leis an smuig (archaic, dialectal) don smug don smuig (archaic, dialectal) leis na smuga

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Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• smau (Nynorsk also)

Etymology

From the verb smyge.

Noun

smug n (definite singular smuget, indefinite plural smug, definite plural smuga or smugene)

1. an alley or alleyway (usually for pedestrians)

References

• “smug” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /smuk/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uk
• Syllabification: smug

Noun

smug m inan

1. a narrow strip of meadow or, less commonly, of a field or forest
2. any meadow, especially one that is marshy
3. (archaic) Alternative form of smuga (“streak, trail, contrail”)

Declension

Declension of smug

	singular	plural
nominative	smug	smugi
genitive	smugu	smugów
dative	smugowi	smugom
accusative	smug	smugi
instrumental	smugiem	smugami
locative	smugu	smugach
vocative	smugu	smugi

Noun

smug f

1. genitive plural of smuga

Further reading

• smug in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• smug in Polish dictionaries at PWN