Smoke

How to spell smoke

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce smoke

What does smoke mean?

1. nounThe grey or black airborne vapour produced when something burns.
2. verbTo inhale and exhale the fumes of burning tobacco or a similar substance.

Smoke in a sentence

• noun

  Thick smoke poured from the upstairs window before the engines arrived.

• verb

  He decided to stop smoke after his doctor reviewed his test results.

• noun

  The alarm went off because of smoke from the burnt toast.

• verb

  Guests are not allowed to smoke inside the hotel rooms.

Where does smoke come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word descends from Old English, where the noun 'smoca' and the related verb 'smēocan' both referred to the visible vapour given off by burning material. These came from a Germanic root that meant 'to smoke' or 'to smoulder', and close relatives survive in modern Dutch 'smook' and German 'schmauch', showing the shared northern European ancestry. Through the medieval period the spelling settled toward the silent-final-e form we use today, with the long vowel reflecting the older drawn-out pronunciation. The sense steadily broadened from the literal vapour of a fire to the act of drawing tobacco smoke into the lungs, a use that became common only after tobacco reached Europe in the sixteenth century. The word also spread into many practical phrases about cooking, signalling, and curing food, which is why it feels so thoroughly woven into everyday English.

How the word is built

• smoke (from Old English smoca/smēocan, smoke or to give off smoke); single root, no affixes