smile
/ˈsmaɪ.əl/noun, verb
Facial expression showing pleasure, amusement, or favor
From Proto-Indo-European *smey- (to laugh).
Lineage
The story
Long before people posed for portraits, a smile was already doing social work: a tiny lift at the corners of the mouth could signal amusement, friendliness, or favor without producing a single sound. English picked up smilen around 1300, probably through Germanic neighbors such as Middle Low German, while its deeper ancestor, *smey-, also carried the striking ideas “to laugh,” “be glad,” and even “wonder.” Wait, really? That makes Latin mīror, “to wonder at,” a distant cousin of smile—and the source of English marvel and miracle through later Latin developments. English once used smearcian for a smile too, but smile gradually shoved it toward the nastier territory of modern smirk. By 1759 people were speaking of smiling eyes, and by 1884 the newspaper phrase “smile and the world smiles with you” had turned a facial movement into a miniature philosophy: sometimes one raised mouth can be a whole social invitation.
Modern usage
A joking expression for an especially powerful or lethal smile; also a humorous reference to a smile allegedly supplied with a fast-food meal.
- Heard in
- internet slang · fast-food humor
- See
- Urban Dictionary entries describing a smile as overwhelming or as a supposed McDonald’s offering