smurf
English[edit]

Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Dutch smurf (via the Belgian comic De Smurfen, a translation of French Les Schtroumpfs), from French schtroumpf, a word that was created by Peyo based on German Strumpf (literally “stocking, sock”), either simply because it sounds funny to the French ear or based on a regional German use for “idiot”. Armand van Raalte was an employee for the Belgian publisher of Peyo's stories who felt that schtroumpf would not have the same effect in Dutch, so he tried to find a simple word that could be used both as a noun and a verb. The result was smurf.[1] In other languages, the term was similarly altered; compare the translations below.
Pronunciation[edit]
- IPA(key): /smɜːf/, (UK) enPR: smûrf,
- IPA(key): /smɝf/, (US) enPR: smûrf
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)f
Noun[edit]
smurf (plural smurfs or (rare) smurves)
- (comics, fiction) A blue pixie with white stocking cap, from the media franchise The Smurfs.
- 2021 December 8, Geraldine DeRuiter, “Bros., Lecce: We Eat at The Worst Michelin Starred Restaurant, Ever”, in The Everywhereist[3]:
- He occasionally used the proper noun of the restaurant as an adverb, the way a Smurf would.
- (Internet slang) A smurf account.
- (computer security) A smurf attack.
- (drugs, slang) One member of a team, each of whom acquires a small amount of money or ingredients for manufacturing drugs, keeping the transactions too small to raise suspicion.
- 1998, Michael D. Lyman, Gary W. Potter, Drugs in Society: Causes, Concepts, and Control, page 202:
- Each smurf goes to different banks and purchases cashier's checks in denominations of less than $ 10,000, thus bypassing the reporting requirement.
- 2001, Robert E. Grosse, Drugs and Money: Laundering Latin America's Cocaine Dollars, page 73:
- Once the checks and money orders were purchased, the smurfs delivered them to Barrera, who arranged deposits of multiple checks and money orders into bank accounts that he controlled for further transfer to accounts in Panama, Colombia, and elsewhere.
- 2020, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Winter Counts, page 22:
- The local cooks would get some smurfs to buy boxes of Sudafed at all the drugstores in a hundred-mile radius, then pay them off in product.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Verb[edit]
smurf (third-person singular simple present smurfs, present participle smurfing, simple past and past participle smurfed)
- (slang) Used to replace any other verb, as is typical of smurfs.
- (banking) To split a large financial transaction into smaller ones so as to avoid scrutiny; to carry out structuring.
- (computer security, transitive) To carry out a smurf attack against someone.
- (Internet slang) To use a smurf account.
References[edit]
Dutch[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Changed from the original French schtroumpf as described above.[1]
Pronunciation[edit]
- Hyphenation: smurf
- Rhymes: -ʏrf
Noun[edit]
smurf m (plural smurfen, diminutive smurfje n)
Derived terms[edit]
References[edit]
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
1983: after the English name of The Smurfs, via Dutch smurf from French schtroumpf. See above.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
smurf m (plural smurfs)
- a sort of breakdancing
- Hypernym: breakdance
Derived terms[edit]
Swedish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Dutch smurf, from French schtroumpf.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
smurf c
Declension[edit]
Declension of smurf | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | smurf | smurfen | smurfar | smurfarna |
Genitive | smurfs | smurfens | smurfars | smurfarnas |
Declension of smurf | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | smurf | smurfen | smurfer | smurferna |
Genitive | smurfs | smurfens | smurfers | smurfernas |
Interjection[edit]
smurf
- English terms borrowed from Dutch
- English terms derived from Dutch
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from German
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)f
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)f/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Comics
- en:Fictional characters
- English terms with quotations
- English internet slang
- en:Computer security
- English slang
- English verbs
- en:Banking
- English transitive verbs
- Dutch terms borrowed from French
- Dutch terms derived from French
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/ʏrf
- Rhymes:Dutch/ʏrf/1 syllable
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch masculine nouns
- nl:Comics
- nl:Fictional characters
- French terms borrowed from English
- French terms derived from English
- French terms derived from Dutch
- French twice-borrowed terms
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- fr:Dances
- Swedish terms borrowed from Dutch
- Swedish terms derived from Dutch
- Swedish terms derived from French
- Swedish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- sv:Comics
- sv:Fictional characters
- Swedish interjections