Smicker

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. To smile in a coy, flirtatious, or slightly foolish manner, often with a sidelong glance
2. Describing the act of giving a sly, self-conscious smile, usually with an air of affected charm
3. Smiling in a silly or coquettish way, as a person might when trying to attract notice

Etymology: Smicker began as an Old English adjective meaning "beautiful, elegant, fine, neat," the sense it kept as late as Middle English, when it could still describe a well-made or graceful thing. The verb and noun senses (smiling in a sly, coy, or flirtatious way) developed much later, and the modern meaning is far from the original praise of beauty and tidiness. The word's exact ancestry is uncertain. Its Proto-Germanic form, *smikraz, meant "fine, elegant, delicate, tender," and it may connect to an Indo-European root meaning "to smear, stroke, or rub." Its relatives in other languages include Middle High German "smecker," meaning neat or elegant, and Ancient Greek "smikros," which is linked to "mikros," meaning "small." That Greek connection is a cousin relationship and does not mean the English word is borrowed from Greek. The verb sense probably developed under the influence of Scandinavian words. Swedish "smickra" and Danish "smigre" both mean "to flatter" or "to coax," and that idea of wheedling fits the coy smile the English verb came to describe.