Smitten means suddenly and helplessly in love. Quite smitten, smitten with her, smitten at first sight.
It is affectionate and slightly amused, and it is nearly always said by an observer rather than the person concerned. It is also used of enthusiasm for a thing — smitten with the place. The word is the old past participle of smite, meaning to strike a heavy blow, which is exactly the metaphor: love as a blow. Note that smitten is now almost never used in its literal sense.
1adjectivesmittenSuddenly and helplessly in love.
“He was smitten the moment he saw her across the dance floor.”
smitten is a state of infatuation.
Smitten is the past participle of smite, from Old English smitan, to strike. The romantic sense keeps the image of being struck, which is the same one behind struck by love.
Proto-Germanic
*smitanaz
Old English
smiten
Middle English
smiten
English, today
smitten
From Middle English smiten, from Old English smiten, ġesmiten, from Proto-Germanic smitanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic smītaną (“to hurl; fling”), equivalent to smite + en.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA