Meaning

noun a black colloidal substance consisting wholly or principally of amorphous carbon and used to make pigments and ink

verb coat with soot

originInherited from Middle English soot, soote, sote, sot, from Old English sōt, from Proto-Germanic *sōtą (“soot”), from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”). Cognate with dated Dutch zoet (“soot”), German Low German Soot (“soot”), Danish sod (“soot”), Swedish sot (“soot”), Icelandic sót (“soot”). Compare similar ō-grade formation the same Proto-Indo-European root in Old Irish suide (“soot”) and…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0