smurf

Definition

A blue pixie with a white stocking cap, from the media franchise The Smurfs.

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.

Example Sentences

• "He occasionally used the proper noun of the restaurant as an adverb, the way a Smurf would."
• "Each smurf goes to different banks and purchases cashier's checks in denominations of less than $ 10,000, thus bypassing the reporting requirement."
• "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."