smack
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smack¹
- /smæk/
Rhymes with -æk
Where it comes from
The noun is from Middle English smac, smak, smacke, from Old English smæc, smæċċ (“taste, smatch”), from Proto-West Germanic *smakku, from Proto-Germanic *smakkuz (“a taste”), from Proto-Indo-European *smegʰ-, *smeg- (“to taste”). The verb is from Middle English smaken. Doublet of smatch (obsolete, “taste”; q.v.), from Old English smæċċan (“to taste, smack”).
Cognate with Scots smak (“scent, smell, taste, flavour”), Saterland Frisian Smoak (“taste”), West Frisian smaak (“taste”), Dutch smaak (“taste”), German Schmack, Geschmack (“taste”), Danish smag (“taste”), Swedish and Norwegian smak (“taste”), Norwegian smekke.
noun smacks
- A distinct flavor, especially if slight. rice pudding with a smack of cinnamon
- A slight trace of something; a smattering. He was not sailorly, and yet he had a smack of the sea about him too.
-
Synonym of heroin.
Claude overdosed on smack in a Chicago flophouse three years later.
Similar: heroin
- A form of fried potato; a scallop.
verb smacks · smacking · smacked
- To get the flavor of. He soon smacked the taste of physic hidden in this sweetness.
- To have a particular taste; used with of. 1820-25, Charles Lamb, Essays of Elia He had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening upon our quarter-of-a-penny loaf — our crug — moistened with attenuated small beer, in wooden piggings, smacking of the pitched leathern jack it was poured from.
-
To indicate or suggest something; used with of.
Her reckless behavior smacks of pride.
Similar: reek
smack²
- /smæk/
Rhymes with -æk
Where it comes from
From Middle Low German smack (Low German Schmacke, Schmaake (“small ship”)) or Dutch smak, perhaps ultimately related to smakken, imitative of the sails' noise.
noun smacks
- A small sailing vessel, commonly rigged as a sloop, used chiefly in the coasting and fishing trade and often called a fishing smack. He had sung when he was by himself in the old days and he had sung at night sometimes when he was alone steering on his watch in the smacks or in the turtle boats.
- A group of jellyfish. In November 2007, a 16-square-kilometer smack of jellyfish at a depth of 35 feet invaded the Northern Salmon Company, Northern Ireland's only salmon farm, killing more than 100,000 fish at a cost of more than $2 million.
smack³
- /smæk/
Rhymes with -æk
Where it comes from
From Middle English *smakken, from Middle Dutch smacken (modern Dutch smakken (“to smack, pop, hurl down, crash”)), from Old Dutch *smakkon, from Proto-West Germanic *smak(k)ōn, ultimately of imitative origin.
Cognate West Frisian smakke, Middle Low German smacken (“to hit, hurl, fling”), Plautdietsch schmaksen (“to smack the lips”), German schmatzen (“eat noisily”), regional German schmacken, Schmackes (“vigour”) (compare Swedish smak (“slap”), the first part of Saterland Frisian smakmuulje (“to smack, slap”)).
noun smacks
- A sharp blow; a slap. See also: spank.
- The sound of a loud kiss. he took the bride about the neck. And kissed her lips with such a clamorous smack.
- A quick, sharp noise, as of the lips when suddenly separated, or of a whip.
verb smacks · smacking · smacked
- To slap or hit someone.
- To make a smacking sound. A horse neighed, and a whip smacked, there was a whistle, and the sound of a cart wheel.
- To strike a child (usually on the buttocks) as a form of discipline. (normal U.S. and Canadian term spank)
- To wetly separate the lips, making a noise, after tasting something or in expectation of a treat. But when, obedient to the mode / Of panegyric, courtly ode / The bard bestrides, his annual hack, / In vain I taste, and sip and smack, / I find no flavour of the Sack.
- To kiss with a close compression of the lips, so as to make a sound when they separate.
adverb
- As if with a smack or slap; smartly; sharply. Right smack in the middle of getting ready to leave.
Smack⁴
Where it comes from
Possibly an Americanized form of German Schmack.
proper noun Smacks
- A surname from German.
SMACK⁵
proper noun
- An Apache-based solution stack consisting of Spark, Mesos, Akka, Cassandra, and Kafka.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: slap, thwack, bang, slapdash, junk, smooch, shit, tang, sapidity, taste, horse, savour, flavor, relish, savor, reek
Translations
Every language
verb to slap someone
| Español | lapear, sopapear, abofetear, bofetear, cachetear |
|---|---|
| हिन्दी | थप्पड़ मारना thappaṛ mārnā |
| Italiano | schiaffeggiare |
| Русский | шлёпать šljópatʹ, шлёпнуть šljópnutʹ |
verb to wetly separate the lips making a noise
| Español | chasquear los labios |
|---|---|
| Русский | чмо́кать čmókatʹ, чмо́кнуть čmóknutʹ, причмо́кивать pričmókivatʹ, причмо́кнуть pričmóknutʹ |
verb to kiss with a sound
| Русский | чмокнуть čmoknutʹ |
|---|
Talk about this word "smack." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/smack. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. smack. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/smack "smack." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/smack.Cite this
@misc{smack_2026,
title = {smack},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/smack},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
