It's the Word of the Day podcast for February 10th.

Today's word is besmirch, spelled B-E-S-M-I-R-C-H.

Besmirch is a verb.

To besmirch the reputation or name or honor of someone or something

is to cause harm or damage to it. Here's the word used in a sentence from lithub.com.

In 1895, a ruthless public smear campaign hinging on Oscar Wilde's queerness, led to the author's imprisonment,

outing, and eventual exile.

Famously, the British press conspired to draw the dramatist's name through the mud, besmirching

his literary legacy for generations to follow.

The prefix B, B, B, B, has several applications in English. In the case of the word

besmirch, it means to make or cause to be. But what does smirch itself mean? Since the 1400s, smirch has

been used as a verb, meaning to make dirty stained or discolored. Besmirch joined English in the early 1600s, and today Smurch and Bismurch are both used when

something, and especially something abstract, like a reputation, is being figuratively sullied,

that is damaged or harmed.

Besmirch isn't unique in its journey.

English has a history of attaching B, B, E, to existing verbs to form synonyms. For example, befriend combines B.E in its to make or cause to be sense

with the verb friend, meaning to act as the friend of.

Befuttle combines B.E in its thoroughly sense with the word fuddle, meaning to stupefy with

or as if with drink.

And befog combines B.E. in its to provide or cover with sense with fog, meaning to cover with

or as if with fog.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

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