Smoky

How to spell smoky

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce smoky

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does smoky mean?

1. adjectiveFilled with, producing, or resembling smoke, often in colour, taste, or atmosphere.

Smoky in a sentence

• The kitchen turned smoky when the pan was left too long on the heat.

• He ordered a whisky with a deep smoky flavour.

Where does smoky come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This adjective is built from the noun 'smoke' plus the everyday adjective ending '-y', which means 'full of' or 'tending towards'. The base word descends from the Old English 'smoca', a noun for the visible vapour given off by burning material, related to the verb 'smocian' meaning 'to give off smoke'. It belongs to a wider family of Germanic words, including the Dutch 'smook' and the German 'Schmauch', all reaching back to a root sense of smouldering or rising fumes. The form 'smoky' has been recorded since the late Middle Ages, and the spelling trap is small but real: the silent 'e' of 'smoke' is dropped before '-y', which is why many writers wrongly keep it and produce 'smokey'. That 'smokey' spelling survives mainly in proper names, while ordinary use takes the trimmed 'smoky'.

How the word is built

• smok- (from smoke)
• -y (adjective suffix, with the silent e dropped)