smarting

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈsmɑrtɪŋ/ UK /ˈsmɑːtɪŋ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
causing or feeling a sharp stinging pain

Her eyes were smarting from the smoke of the fire.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · causing or feeling a sharp... stingingburning tingling painful throbbing aching

Opposites

soothing painless numbing

Word family

Forms smartingly

Related forms smart

Etymology

Present participle of the verb smart, from Old English smeortan ('to be painful, sting'), from Proto-Germanic *smertaną, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd- ('to bite, sting, hurt').

smeortan Old English *smertaną Proto-Germanic *smerd- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# smarting

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈsmɑrtɪŋ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsmɑːtɪŋ/

## Meanings
1. causing or feeling a sharp stinging pain

## Examples
- Her eyes were smarting from the smoke of the fire.

## Synonyms
- stinging
- burning
- tingling
- painful
- throbbing
- aching

## Antonyms
- soothing
- painless
- numbing

## Related Forms
- smart

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: smeortan
- Root: *smertaną
- Root: *smerd-

## Etymology
Present participle of the verb smart, from Old English smeortan ('to be painful, sting'), from Proto-Germanic *smertaną, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd- ('to bite, sting, hurt').

## AI Etymology
Smarting is the present participle of the verb smart, from Old English smeortan ('to be painful, sting'), from Proto-Germanic *smertaną, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd- ('to bite, sting, hurt'). The historical chain includes Old English smeortan, Proto-Germanic *smertaną, and Proto-Indo-European *smerd-. Older glosses in the chain include "to be painful, sting" and "to bite, sting, hurt", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, smarting is best read as borrowing, yielding an English adjective shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as an adjective, with the sense "causing or feeling a sharp stinging pain". related forms include smart. The result is an English adjective whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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