Smith
Language: English
Part of speech: name
Pronunciation: ipa: /smɪθ/
rhymes: -ɪθ
homophone: smith
Forms: form: Smiths
form: Smithe
form: Smyth
form: Smythe
Etymology: From smith or Middle English Smith (“a surname”), alternative form of Smyth, itself from smyth (“smith”). Doublet of Schmidt, Smid, and Smit.
Senses: examples: text: Patingham selmonger, who, as it was reported, reneuced the Arians opinion before he dyed. The xvi. daye were burned [at the stake], at Staines. Robert Smith[,] painter, who in the tyme of his imprisonment, wrate byuers thinges in Metre, which were after put in print. At Stortford Stephan Harwoode Alebruer. And at Ware Thomas Fuſſe Jerkenmaker.
ref: 1559, Thomas Lanquet, Thomas Cooper, Robert Crowley, An Epitome of Cronicles, London: Thomas Marshe:
text: This ſyſtem, as it was much eſteemed by many antient fathers of the chriſtian church, ſo after the reformation it was adopted by feveral divines of the moſt eminent piety and learning and of the moſt amiable manners; particularly, by Dr. Ralph Cudworth, by Dr. Henry More, and by Mr. John Smith of Cambridge.
ref: 1759, Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, pages 360–361:
text: John is a most excellent name, and Smith is a surname which is worthy of respect and honor, but wo to the man on whom they are conjoined! For John Smith to aspire to senatorial dignities or to the laurel of a poet is simply ridiculous. Who is John Smith? He is lost in the multitude of John Smiths, and individual fame is impossible.
ref: 1852 August 24, D. H. Jacques, “A Chapter on Names”, in The Knickerbocker, or, New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XL, page 114:
text: [Smith is] Common to every village in England, north, south, east, and west. There are 300,000 Smiths in England.
ref: 1901, Charles Wareing Bardsley, “Smith”, in A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances, London: Henry Frowde, page 699:
text: Jada Pinkett Smith found herself at the center of conflict when her husband Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony March 27. Rock joked about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head – a look she has said is more than a style preference.
ref: 2022 June 1, Kristen Rogers, “What causes alopecia, a ‘devastating’ hair loss condition affecting Jada Pinkett Smith”, in CNN:
text: Clearly the more numerous the holders of a surname, the more likely it is to be polygenic – that is, having arisen in many different places. In no case discovered, however, is a name evenly distributed among the population, though Smith comes close to it.
ref: 2024, Colin Rogers, The Surname Detective: Investigating Surname Distribution in England Since 1086, Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 71:
glosses: An English surname originating as an occupation (the most common in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand).
glosses: A male given name transferred from the surname.
glosses: Several places in the United States:
An unincorporated community in LaPorte County, Indiana.
glosses: Several places in the United States:
An unincorporated community in Harlan County, Kentucky.
glosses: Several places in the United States:
An unincorporated community in York County, South Carolina.
glosses: Several places in the United States:
A small unincorporated community in Lyon County, Nevada, named for an early settler family.
glosses: Several places in the United States:
A ghost town in Humboldt County, California.
synonyms: Smiths Turnout
glosses: Several places in the United States:
A number of townships in the United States, listed under Smith Township.
glosses: A hamlet in the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River, northern Alberta, Canada.
glosses: Several rivers:
A river in Douglas County, Oregon, United States, a tributary of the Umpqua River.
glosses: Several rivers:
A river in Montana, United States, a tributary of the Missouri.
glosses: Several rivers:
A river in Yukon and British Columbia, Canada, a tributary of the Liard River.
glosses: Several rivers:
A river in Virginia and North Carolina, United States, a tributary of the Dan River.
glosses: Several rivers:
A river in California, United States, flowing from the Klamath Mountains into the Pacific.
glosses: Several rivers:
A river in New Hampshire, United States, a tributary of the Pemigewasset River.
glosses: Several rivers:
A river in Linn County, Oregon, United States, a tributary of the McKenzie River.
glosses: Several rivers:
A river in Quebec, Canada, a tributary of the Montmorency River.
glosses: Smith College (a women's college in Massachusetts, U.S.)
Derived terms: word: Aase-Smith syndrome
word: Deaf Smith County
word: Fort Smith
english: Iain Duncan Smith
translation: Iain Duncan Smith
word: IDS
word: Kingsford Smith
word: Lorrain Smith effect
word: Marshall-Smith syndrome
word: Smith Center
word: Smith County
word: Smith-Fineman-Myers syndrome
word: Smith-Magenis syndrome
word: Smith-Martin-Dodd syndrome
word: Smithsburg
word: Smiths Falls
word: Smith squat
word: Smith system
word: Smithton
word: Smithtown
word: Smithville