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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for March 22, 1999
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smart [adj., v. SMART]
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If you're smart then you are intelligent, clever, sharp, bright,
quick-witted. As an adjective the word has a broad range of other
meanings, including impertinent, energetic, shrewd, or fashionable.
Originally, smart was a verb meaning "to be sharply painful" and that
meaning is still alive today: "That really smarts." The origin is the
Old West Germanic smert, source of the German schmerz (pain). The
Greek smerdnos (terrible) may have come from the same ancient root.
The Old English adjective smeart (stinging, painful) was used in the
11th century. The modern senses (clever, alert, etc) emerged in the
17th century, probably a reference to the way a sudden pain can "wake
up" the senses and make one more alert.
In the 18th century, the word was used to describe people who were
fashionable, neat, and well-groomed. Several derogatory meanings are
of more recent origin, including the phrase "smart alec" (know-it-all,
conceited wise guy).
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