If someone says you are smart, what do they mean? Is it a good thing or something bad? The answer is not as easy as you might think. This is because the word smart has many meanings.

For example, someone could say you look smart or are dressed smartly. That means they like what you are wearing and your physical appearance. To use a slang expression(俚语), they could say, “You look really cool!”

But if something smarts, it can be unkind or hurtful, either physically or mentally. If you accidentally trip over a chair and fall down, you might shout, “Wow! That smarts!” If you are standing too close to a campfire, you could say your eyes are smarting from the smoke of the fire. Here the word “smarting” means a sharp pain.

But the most common meaning of smart is to be intelligent.

If someone is smart as a whip(鞭), they are able to think very quickly.

However, different people have different ways of being smart. Some people are considered street smart. They may not have a strong education. But they are good at dealing with people and problems in the real world. Other people might be book smart. This means they have spent many years in school. But they may not be so smart when dealing with people or real-world problems.