Slang dictionary
shmegma
[shmeg-muh]
What does shmegma mean?
Shmegma is a variant of smegma, a white, cottage cheese-like substance that accumulates beneath the foreskin of an uncircumcised penis.
Where does shmegma come from?
If proper hygiene isn’t practiced, the inside of the foreskin of the penis can secrete the goopy white stuff known as smegma, a 19th-century word adapted from the Greek smegma, meaning “soap.”
Like a lot of sex and body terms, smegma was picked up as a humorous insult for something or someone “worthless” in the late 20th century. People began referring to smegma as shmegma. This could have started as an innocent mistake, modeled on words like schmear, or for humorous and dismissive effect.
Hardcore musician Mike Hammond launched a record label provocatively named Shmegma Records in the early 1980s. An early internet user referenced “one smiling face slick with shmegma” in 1985.
Shmegma spread in the 1990s–2000s, when people began using shmegma as a term for any icky substance (e.g., eye shmegma, or eye boogers).
As shmegma is a somewhat obscure slang term that is crass but not too offensive, some brands have even jokingly used it for products, such as Descarga Brewing Company’s beer, Shmegma. Ingredients list, please?
Examples of shmegma
Who uses shmegma?
Shmegma is used to refer to smegma, often with a deliberately juvenile sense of humor. It’s also used for other nasty crud (e.g., vaginal shmegma or burrito shmegma).
Because shmegma is perceived as disgusting, it’s also a suitable insult for someone you dislike or consider worthless.
You are a lying old piece of shmegma. America has closed the doors you pompous ass. Ask businesses like ElectroLux, Boeing.
You surveyed your staff to get these answers. You are nauseatingly disgusting. You smell of leaky depends and overflowing colostomy bags.
You have lost it.— FAK Cancer (@FakCancer) May 10, 2018
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of shmegma like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of shmegma that will help our users expand their word mastery.