# smuggle

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈsmʌɡəl/ · frequency rank #25,210

## Definitions
1. To import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties
2. To bring in surreptitiously
3. To fondle or cuddle.
4. To thrash or be thrashed by a bear's claws, or to swipe at or be swiped at by a person's arms in a bearlike manner.

## Etymology
From earlier smuckle, either from Dutch smokkelen (“to smuggle”), a frequentative form of Middle Dutch smūken (“to act secretly, be sneaky”), from Old Dutch *smugan, or from Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German smuggeln; all are from Proto-West Germanic *smeugan (“to creep; slip through or into”).
cognates and related terms
Cognate with Saterland Frisian smuggelje (“to smuggle”), West Frisian smokkelje (“to smuggle”), German Low German smuggeln, smuckeln (“to move insidiously, smuggle”), German schmuggeln (“to smuggle”), Danish smugle (“to smuggle”), Swedish smuggla (“to smuggle”). Related also to Icelandic smjúga (“to creep, penetrate”), Swedish smyga (“to sneak, slip, crawl, lurk, steal”), German schmiegen (“to nestle, wrap, snuggle”), Old English smēogan, smūgan (“to creep, crawl, move gradually, penetrate”).

## Easily confused with
- **snuggle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/smuggle-vs-snuggle)
- **struggle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/smuggle-vs-struggle)
- **smuggler** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/smuggle-vs-smuggler)
- **smudge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/smudge-vs-smuggle)

## Common misspellings (9)
`msuggle`, `smgugle`, `smmuggle`, `smuggel`, `smugglle`, `smugle`, `smuglge`, `ssmuggle`, `sumggle`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/smuggle