noun / verb

smut

SMUT/smʌt/

Black sooty dirt or staining.

Smut from the fireplace blackens the cloth and fingertips.

A hand wipes black soot from pale tiles beside a fireplace.

Etymology

Smutten meant “debase” or “defile,” and smut could name a black mark or stain. The obscene sense applies this imagery of dirt and defilement to language and sexually explicit material.

In context

Books & Brews7:39

this mirrors today's debates around romantic erotica and smut sexually explicit stories have always been devalued

A Conversation about Romantasy, Smut and the Double Standards of Literature

More examples

She wipes a streak of smut from her cheek.
Smoke from the stove smuts the kitchen ceiling.
His sleeves are smutted with soot after cleaning the chimney.

Forms

smut · smuts · smutted · smutting

Similar words

soot: Specifically names the black powder left by burning fuel.
grime: Means accumulated dirt, often greasy, rather than specifically sooty dirt.
smudge: Names a smeared mark, not necessarily black or sooty.