smug
/smʌɡ/adjective, verb
smug is spelled S-M-U-G: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,336th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, smug means “Irritatingly pleased with oneself; offensively self-complacent, self-satisfied” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in smug?
| Letters | 4: S-M-U-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words; the 19,336th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is smug?
Smug appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,336th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce smug?
- US /smʌɡ/
- Australia /smɐɡ/
- /smʊɡ/
Smug has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-smug.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with smug?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as smug from its last stressed vowel (/ʌɡ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of smug
- smugger comparative
- smuggest superlative
- smugs present, singular, he/she/it
- smugging participle, present
- smugged participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does smug mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Irritatingly pleased with oneself; offensively self-complacent, self-satisfied.
Kate looked extremely smug this morning.
- 2
Showing smugness; showing self-complacency, self-satisfaction.
a smug look on her face
- 3
obsoleteStudiously neat or nice, especially in dress; spruce; affectedly precise; smooth and prim.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo make smug, or spruce.
- 2
to adopt an offensively self-complacent expression.
- 3
obsoleteslangTo seize; to confiscate.
- 4
obsoleteslangTo hush up.
noun
- 1
obsoleteThe smuggling trade.
Have not they some term by which they distinguish the illicit trade? – They usually call it the Smug-pigeon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Smug in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense irritatingly pleased with oneself; self-satisfied:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | auto-satisfait, suffisant, fat |
| German | blasiert, eingebildet, selbstgefällig, süffisant, selbstzufrieden, dünkelhaft |
| Portuguese | presunçoso, convencido |
| Spanish | ufano, engreído, petulante, creído, sobrado, fatuo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does smug come from?
Originally "spruce, neat," from Low German smuk (“pretty”), from Middle Low German smuk (“lithe, delicate, neat, trim”), although the g of the English word is not easily explained. The ultimate source should be Proto-West Germanic *smeugan (“to crawl, creep”). From the Low German derived also North Frisian smok, Danish smuk and Swedish smukk (now obsolete or dialectal). Compare also Middle High German gesmuc (“ornament”) and smücken (“to dress, to adorn”), both ultimately from smiegen (“to press to, insert, wrap, to nestle”), hence German schmiegen, Schmuck and schmücken.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).