smuggle

English smuggle comes from earlier smuckle, likely borrowed from Dutch smokkelen, a frequentative form of Middle Dutch smūken ("to act secretly, be sneaky"). That in turn traces back to Old Dutch *smugan and Proto-West Germanic *smeugan, meaning "to creep; slip through or into."

The core sense of quiet, bodily creeping — slipping through a narrow space — narrowed over time into the specific act of moving goods secretly and illegally.

It's related to Old English smēogan and smūgan ("to creep, crawl, penetrate"), and to German schmiegen ("to nestle, wrap, snuggle") — words that all share the ancient sense of pressing or slipping oneself into a tight space.