smut

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable) Soot.
2. (countable) A flake of ash or soot.
3. (uncountable) Sexually vulgar material; something that is sexual in a dirty way; pornographic material.
4. (uncountable) Obscene language; ribaldry; obscenity.
5. (countable, uncountable) Any of a range of fungi, mostly Ustilaginomycetes, that cause plant disease in grasses, including cereal crops; the disease so caused.
6. (countable, uncountable) Bad, soft coal containing earthy matter, found in the immediate locality of faults.
7. (archaic, countable, slang) A copper boiler.

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) To stain (or be stained) with soot or other dirt.
2. (transitive) To taint (grain, etc.) with the smut fungus.
3. (intransitive) To become tainted by the smut fungus.
4. (transitive) To clear of the smut fungus.

Synonyms

soot

smudge

filth

crock

stain

obscenity

blot

porno

spot

smirch

blemish

carbon black

mildew

smear

lampblack

porn

ergot

slur

speck

speckle

splotch

blight

vulgarism

blotch

moil

blur

dirty word

smut fungus

pornography

ribaldry

rust

erotica

swinish trick

flag smut

head smut

raunch

stripe blight

rotten act

inferior coal

faulty coal

bad mark

smut-fungus

bawdiness

bawdry

bawdy

besmirch

black

blacken

brand

crap

Translations

Dreck

Schmutz

obscenidad

καπνιά

pornographie

vuiligheid

tizne

Schmutzliteratur

سُخَام

αισχρολογίες

emmascarar

😷

سِنَاج

obscénité

vulgaridad

Pronounced as (IPA)

/smʌt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: smutten

Cognate with Old English: smitta

Cognate with Old English: besmītan

In summary

From Middle English smutten (“to defile, debase”), related to German Schmutz (“filth, dirt, smut”) and schmutzen (“to make dirty, stain”). Doublet of schmutz.
Compare also Old English smitta (“smear; blot; mark; stain; pollution”), Old English besmītan (“to besmut; defile; dirty; pollute; contaminate”).