smurf en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /smɜːf/
- smûrf (US)
- /smɝf/
- (Australia) audio
- smûrf (UK)
Etymology
Borrowed from Dutch smurf (via the Belgian comic De Smurfen, a translation of French Les Schtroumpfs), from French schtroumpf, a word that was created by Peyo based on German Strumpf (literally “stocking, sock”) while he was having dinner, either simply because it sounds funny to the French ear or based on a regional German use for “idiot”. Armand van Raalte was an employee for the Belgian publisher of Peyo's stories who felt that schtroumpf would not have the same effect in Dutch, so he tried to find a simple word that could be used both as a noun and a verb. The result was smurf. In other languages, the term was similarly altered; compare the translations below.
Meanings
-
A blue pixie with a white stocking cap, from the media franchise The Smurfs.
He occasionally used the proper noun of the restaurant as an adverb, the way a Smurf would.
2021 December 8, Geraldine DeRuiter, “Bros., Lecce: We Eat at The Worst Michelin Starred Restaurant, Ever”, in The Everywhereist:
- (Internet) A smurf account or its user.
- (qualifier:computer security) A smurf attack.
-
(slang) One member of a team, each of whom acquires a small amount of money or ingredients for manufacturing drugs, keeping the transactions too small in order to not raise suspicion.
Each smurf goes to different banks and purchases cashier's checks in denominations of less than $ 10,000, thus bypassing the reporting requirement.
1998, Michael D. Lyman, Gary W. Potter, Drugs in Society: Causes, Concepts, and Control, page 202:Once the checks and money orders were purchased, the smurfs delivered them to Barrera, who arranged deposits of multiple checks and money orders into bank accounts that he controlled for further transfer to accounts in Panama, Colombia, and elsewhere.
2001, Robert E. Grosse, Drugs and Money: Laundering Latin America's Cocaine Dollars, page 73:The local cooks would get some smurfs to buy boxes of Sudafed at all the drugstores in a hundred-mile radius, then pay them off in product.
2020, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Winter Counts, page 22:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| smurfs | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| smurves | Number=Plur | rare | lexicographic |
Deriveds
smurf account · smurfable · smurf attack · Smurfette principle · smurfy
Translations (51)
de Schlumpf (fictional character) · hy սմուրֆիկ (fictional character) · tr şirin (fictional character) · am ስሙርፍ (fictional character) · ru штрумпф (fictional character) · nl smurf (fictional character) · sv smurf (fictional character) · gmw-rfr Schlümpp (fictional character) · et smurf (fictional character) · ca barrufet (fictional character) · mk штрумф (fictional character) · sk šmolko (fictional character) · he דַּרְדָּס (fictional character) · wa chtroume (fictional character) · th สเมิร์ฟ (fictional character) · ar سَنَافِر (fictional character) · cy smyrff (fictional character) · pl smerf (fictional character) · da smølf (fictional character) · fi smurffi (fictional character) · sh štrumpf (fictional character) · eo smurfo (fictional character) · li smörf (fictional character) · cmn 藍精靈 /蓝精灵 (fictional character) · nn smurf (fictional character) · ar سَنْفُور (fictional character) · vi xì trum (fictional character) · ro ștrumf (fictional character) · ru смурф (fictional character) · hy սմուրֆ (fictional character) · ja シュトロンフ (fictional character) · hu törp (fictional character) · ko 스머프 (fictional character) · it puffo (fictional character) · es pitufo (fictional character) · pt smurf (fictional character) · el στρουμφάκι (fictional character) · pt estrunfe (fictional character) · yue 藍精靈 /蓝精灵 (fictional character) · cs šmoula (fictional character) · sh штрумф (fictional character) · fr schtroumpf (fictional character) · lt smurfas (fictional character) · ru штрумф (fictional character) · pt estrumpfe (fictional character) · ja スマーフ (fictional character) · sl smrkec (fictional character) · ka სმურფი (fictional character) · eu pottoki (fictional character) · nb smurf (fictional character) · is strumpur (fictional character)
wikipedia: fr:Les Schtroumpfs · wikipedia: nl:De Smurfen · wikipedia: Peyo