Etymograph

English

smake

Smake comes from Middle Dutch smaken ‘to taste’.

  1. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500smaken1‘to taste’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smaken1‘to taste, sense flavour, detect by taste or smell’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1882smake1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English smake
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1882, Bricktop: “Even Bill Bitters could not find it in his…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500smakenWiktionary, English smake‘to taste’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smakenWiktionary, English smake‘to taste, sense flavour, detect by taste or smell’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1882smakeWiktionary, English smake. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1882, Bricktop: “Even Bill Bitters could not find it in his…”

Every English word from Middle Dutch smaken

Today it means

verb Synonym of smack (“to taste, lick”).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “smake”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle Dutch smaken / smake

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