Why “smirr” is a great word
SMIRR — [Verb] To cover with or fall as a fine, misty rain. Variant form of 'smur', a Scots and Northern English term for a fine rain or drizzle, possibly related to Dutch 'smoren' ("to smother, choke") in the sense of mist or haze. Unlike 'drizzle', which implies heavier, more distinct droplets, or 'mist', which denotes a stationary, obscuring vapor, to smirr is to enact a precipitation so light it occupies the liminal space between falling and hanging. It is the veil that blurs the far woods without sound, the damp that settles on wool in a constellation of infinitesimal beads, the persistent moisture that soaks you more thoroughly than any downpour—a patient, quiet saturation of the world.