Smutt

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A small black speck of soot or grime on a surface ; a sooty fungal blight that infects cereal crops ; writing, pictures or talk considered lewd or indecent
2. A tiny patch of dirt or soot left on something ; a dark fungus that spoils the heads of grain plants ; material regarded as vulgar, dirty or sexually explicit
3. Sooty dirt or a dusty mark on a surface ; a blackish fungal disease attacking wheat, oats and similar cereals ; coarse or obscene content in books, speech or images

Etymology: Before it meant anything about dirty books, the root of this word was a physical mark. Early forms in English and in the related Low German and Dutch words point to a sooty speck or smudge, the kind of black residue a chimney or lamp leaves on skin and cloth. The spelling with a double "t" is the older Scots and northern form, and the word that became standard English kept the single "t" while retaining the same sense of a dark mark. The sense of grime carried into agriculture. Farmers applied the same word to a fungal disease that turns grain heads into black, powdery masses, which looks like soot spilled inside the ear. The later extension to indecent writing and talk is a figurative leap from dirtiness, not a separate word. The exact dates for each stage are uncertain to me, so treat the chronology as approximate.

Synonyms: smut, mildew