smidgen

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

smidgen

/ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/ UK
/ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/ US
/-ən/ US

Rhymes with -ɪdʒɪn, -ɪdʒən

Where it comes from

Origin uncertain; possibly from smitch (“(originally Scotland, chiefly US) very small amount or quantity”) + possibly -in (a variant of -ing (suffix forming nouns denoting things considered collectively)). Smitch is possibly:

* derived from smitch (“smoke from a burning or smouldering thing; spot of dirt; blemish; dirt, grime”), a variant of smeech (“(southwest England) (dense or pungent) smoke; airborne dust”), from Middle English smeche, smek, smiche (“smoke from a burning or smouldering thing; cloud of smoke; fumes, vapour; smell”), from Old English smēc, smīc (“smoke; steam; vapour”), 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”), possibly a variant of English smutch (“dirty mark, smudge, stain; dirt, grime; slight indication”) (probably related to smudge, ultimate etymology unknown) and influenced by English smit (“(UK, dialectal) a stain”).

noun smidgens · smidgeon · smidgin

informal Chiefly in the form a smidgen of: a very small amount or quantity; a bit, a trace. Move it a smidgen to the right.
Similar: drop, pinch, smidge, smidget, smidgy, smitch, touch, ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught · Opposite: abundance, battalion, arseload, assload, bellyload, boatload, brimful, busload, bucketful, bucketload, butt-ton, bumload
broadly, informal 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. In fifty years, did you ever have a vacation, you little, silly, half-pint, smidgin of a wife?
Similar: dwarf, midget, pipsqueak, shorty, absolute zero, also-ran, chopped liver, cipher, crumb, Joe Nobody, little guy, minnow · Opposite: bulk, giant, behemoth, Brobdingnagian, colossus, ettin, Goliath, hulk, hunk, jumbo, leviathan, mammoth

Translations

Every language

noun very small amount or quantity

한국어	소량 soryang
日本語	ちょっぴり choppiri, 少量 shōryō
中文	少量 shǎoliàng, 微量 wēiliàng
Português	bocadinho, cadinho, chichizinho, nadinha, poucochinho, pouquinho
Français	chouïa
Deutsch	Quäntchen, Quentchen
Ελληνικά	δράμι drámi
Română	bucățică, câtime
Русский	чу́точка čútočka, ка́пля káplja, ма́лость málostʹ
Tiếng Việt	vi lượng

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"smidgen." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/smidgen. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

smidgen. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/smidgen

Chicago

"smidgen." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/smidgen.

BibTeX

@misc{smidgen_2026,
  title = {smidgen},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/smidgen},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}