Smile

How to spell smile

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce smile

What does smile mean?

1. verbTo form a pleased or friendly expression by turning up the corners of the mouth.
2. nounA pleased or friendly expression made with the mouth.

Smile in a sentence

• verb

  She tried to smile for the camera despite her nerves.

• noun

  A warm smile put the interviewer at ease.

• verb

  Good service makes customers smile and return.

• noun

  Her bright smile lit up the whole office.

Where does smile come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word smile comes from Middle English smilen, which appeared around the 1200s and is related to a wider Germanic and Scandinavian family of words for the same expression, including the Old Norse smila and the Swedish smila. Linguists trace these forms back to an old root meaning 'to laugh' or 'to be glad', which also survives in the Latin mirari 'to wonder at' and even in the English word 'marvel'. For much of its early life smile competed with the native Old English smearcian, the ancestor of our modern 'smirk', and gradually won out as the neutral, friendly word. The plain spelling reflects its homely roots: there are no silent letters or borrowed flourishes, just the long 'i' sound spelled with a final silent 'e'. Because the word is so familiar and phonetically regular, it has stayed remarkably stable in form for centuries.

How the word is built

• smil- (Middle English smilen, to smile)
• -e