smug
[smuhg]
- contentedly confident of one's ability, superiority, or correctness; complacent.
- trim; spruce; smooth; sleek.
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Origin of smug
1545–55; perhaps < Middle Dutch smuc neat, pretty, nice
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
smug
- excessively self-satisfied or complacent
- archaic trim or neat
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Word Origin
C16: of Germanic origin; compare Low German smuck neat
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for smugger
smug
adj.
1550s, "trim, neat, spruce, smart," possibly an alteration of Low German smuk "trim, neat," from Middle Low German smücken "to adorn" (originally "to dress," secondary sense of words meaning "to creep or slip into"), from the same source as smock. The meaning "having a self-satisfied air" is from 1701, an extension of the sense of "smooth, sleek" (1580s), which was commonly used of attractive women and girls. Related: Smugly; smugness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper