smut

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a black colloidal substance consisting wholly or principally of amorphous carbon and used to make pigments and ink
  2. noun destructive diseases of plants (especially cereal grasses) caused by fungi that produce black powdery masses of spores
  3. noun any fungus of the order Ustilaginales

Etymology

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”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

carbon black, lampblack, soot, crock

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