smudge
n. countablen. a small mark or stain on a surface, like a dirty handprint on a window. It is usually messy and hard to clean off.
n. a small, messy mark or stain on a surface, typically caused by a lack of pressure or a wet substance. Often used to describe minor imperfections on glass, paper, or skin.
There is a smudge on the window that I need to clean.
The child left a large smudge of chocolate on the kitchen table after eating his snack.
The photographer had to carefully retouch the image to remove a smudge that had appeared on the lens during the long exposure.
Derived from the verb (see below). Doublet of smutch.
From Middle English *smogen (attested in the gerund smogynge (“soiling, smudging”)), of obscure origin. Compare Middle English besmudded, bismuddet (“filthy”), Middle English smod (“filth, obscene behaviour”), Middle Dutch smoddich (“filthy, dirty”), German schmutzig (“dirty, filthy”).