Smokie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A cooked sausage that has been smoked for flavor and preservation ; a person or animal that smokes
2. A smoked sausage served as food ; someone or something that produces smoke
3. A sausage cured by smoking ; an individual or creature that smokes

Etymology: A smokie is a smoked fish, most often a haddock, cured over smoke until it turns golden. The word is built from "smoke" plus the diminutive ending "-ie," the same little suffix that turns "lassie" from "lass" or "doggie" from "dog." The ending traces back through Old English "-ig" and "-i" to a very old Germanic diminutive marker, and it attached itself to "smoke," which comes from Old English "smoca" and is related to Middle Dutch "smoec." The diminutive sense is a little misleading here, since a smokie is not a tiny smoke. The "-ie" ending in English often carries a sense of affection or familiarity, so a smokie is a smoked fish made in the familiar, everyday way. The word is recorded in its modern sense in the twentieth century, when it became common in British and Scottish cookery, especially in the Scottish fishing towns where smoking was a long-established trade.

Synonyms: sausage, frankfurter