Meaning

noun a smile expressing smugness or scorn instead of pleasure

verb smile affectedly or derisively

originFrom Middle English smirken, from Old English smearcian (“to smile”), corresponding to smerian + -cian (English -k; compare talk and stalk from, respectively, tell and steal). The former element from Proto-Germanic *smarōną (“to mock, scoff at”), and the latter from Proto-Germanic *-kōną. Compare Middle High German smielen/smieren (“to smile”) ( > obsolete, rare German schmieren). Doublet of…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0