Meaning

verb inflict a heavy blow on, with the hand, a tool, or a weapon

verb affect suddenly with deep feeling

verb cause physical pain or suffering in

originFrom Middle English smiten, from Old English smītan (“to daub, smear, smudge; soil, defile, pollute”), from Proto-West Germanic *smītan, from Proto-Germanic *smītaną (“to sling; throw; smear”), from Proto-Indo-European *smeyd- (“to smear, whisk, strike, rub”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian smiete (“to throw, toss”), West Frisian smite (“to throw”), Dutch smijten (“to fling, hurl, throw”), German…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0