Etymograph

English

smoke

Smoke comes from Middle English smoke, from Old English smoca ‘smoke’, from Proto-Germanic *smukô, from Proto-Indo-European *smug- ‘to smoke’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*smug-1‘to smoke’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smukô1‘smoke’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150smoca2
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smoke2
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1828smoke2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English smoca
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English smoke
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology: “When, lo! along the tall Rocky hill-side, a smoke…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*smug-Wiktionary, Old English smoca‘to smoke’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smukôWiktionary, Old English smoca‘smoke’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150smocaWiktionary, English smoke
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smokeWiktionary, English smoke
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1828smokeWiktionary, English smoke. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology: “When, lo! along the tall Rocky hill-side, a smoke…”

The story

From Middle English smoke, from Old English smoca (‘smoke’), probably a derivative of the verb (see below).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with smoke, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Middle English smoke

Explore everything descended from *smug- →

Another origin of smoke

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mewg-‘to smoke’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smaukaną‘to smoke’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smukōną‘to smoke’reconstructedablaut derivative of *smaukaną
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*smokōn‘to smoke’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150smocian‘to smoke, to emit smoke’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smoken‘to perfume’
  7. Englishtodaysmoke

Related also to Old English smēocan (‘to smoke, emit smoke; fumigate’), Bavarian schmuckelen (‘to smell bad, reek’).

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Today it means

noun The visible vapor/vapour, gases, and fine particles given off by burning or smoldering material.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “smoke”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English smoca. 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 *smug- / smoke