English
smith
Smith comes from Middle English smeth, from Old English smiþ, from Proto-Germanic *smiþaz ‘smith’, possibly from PIE *smey- ‘to smear, spread’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*smey-1‘to smear, spread’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smiþaz1‘smith’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*smiþ1‘craftsman’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150smiþ1‘smith’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smeth1
- Englishearliest quotation 1945smith1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English smith
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1945, and February, Some Memories of Crewe Works—III: “The smiths themselves were a grand lot of fellows,…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*smey-Wiktionary, English smith‘to smear, spread’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smiþazWiktionary, English smith‘smith’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*smiþWiktionary, English smith‘craftsman’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150smiþWiktionary, English smith‘smith’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smethWiktionary, English smith
- Englishearliest quotation 1945smithWiktionary, English smith. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1945, and February, Some Memories of Crewe Works—III: “The smiths themselves were a grand lot of fellows,…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with smith, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *smey- ‘to smear, spread’
3 more relatives in the full family tree
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Another origin of smith
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smiþazreconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smiþōną‘to forge, fashion’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*smiþōn‘to forge, fashion’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150smiþian‘to forge, fabricate’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smythen‘to work metal, forge, beat into, torment, refine’
- Englishtodaysmith
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Today it means
noun A craftsperson who works metal into desired forms using a hammer and other tools, sometimes heating the metal to make it more workable, especially a blacksmith.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “smith”. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *smey- / smith