"M" Word Origins

Michel

Latin

From Old French Michel, from Latin Michaël, borrowed from Greek Mikhael, ultimately from Hebrew meaning "who is like God?"

Michelangelo

Italian

From Italian Michele ("Michael") plus Angelo ("angel"), referring to the archangel Michael.

Michelin

French · 1900

From the surname of the Michelin family, the French tyre manufacturers who launched the Michelin Guide in 1900 to encourage road trips (and tyre sales); it later became the world's most famous restaurant rating system.

michell

Origin

Variant of Mitchell.

Michelle

French

Borrowed from French Michelle, the feminine form of Michel, ultimately from Hebrew mikha'el ("who is like God?").

Michigan

Origin

From the Ojibwe word mishigami, meaning "great water" or "giant lake," originally referring to Lake Michigan.

michigander

Origin

] Attributed to Abraham Lincoln, in a speech of July 27, 1848, as pejorative reference to Lewis Cass, Michigan politician: : There is one entire article of the sort I have not discussed yet; I mean the military tale you Democrats are now engaged in dovetailing onto the great Michigander. Ostensibly coined as a blend of Michigan + gander (“male goose, simpleton”) (punning on “tale” and “(dove)tail(ing)”). Alternatively from and/or later reanalyzed as Michigan + -d- (epenthetic) + -er (“resident of”).

Michiko

Japanese

From Japanese Michiko.

mick

Irish

A short form of "Michael," which became so common as an Irish given name that it was later used (often disparagingly) as a general term for Irish people.

mickey

Irish

A nickname derived from "Michael," which became so common in Irish communities that it lent its name to various slang senses, including the drugged drink "Mickey Finn," named after a real (or legendary) Chicago bartender.

mickle

Origin

From Middle English mickle, michel, mikel, mochel, muchel, mukel (“much; many; large, tall; great”), from Old English miċel, myċel (“big, large; great; much”), from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, large; many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”). The word is cognate with Faroese mikil (“large, great, much”), Icelandic mikill (“large in quantity or number; much; great”), Middle High German michel (“large, much”). Doublet of much and muckle. For the adverb and noun forms, compare Middle English muchel (“extensively, greatly, much”, adverb) and Middle English muchel (“large amount”, noun). The noun sense “a small amount” was due to the proverb many a little makes a mickle being incorrectly rendered as many a mickle makes a muckle, leading to mickle being thought to mean “a small quantity” and muckle to mean “a large quantity”, even though muckle is a variant of mickle and both mean “a large quantity”.

micro

Greek

From the Greek prefix "micro-," meaning "small," which was later clipped off to stand as its own adjective in casual English.

microaggression

English

Formed from micro- 'small' and aggression.

microbe

French

Borrowed from French microbe, built from Greek mikros ("small") and bios ("life") — literally "tiny life."

microbiology

Greek

From Greek mikros 'small', bios 'life' and -logia 'study of'.

microbiome

Origin

From micro- + biome or blend of microbiota + genome.

microbiota

Origin

From micro- + biota.

microblogging

Origin

From micro- + blogging.

microbrewery

Origin

From micro- + brewery.

microchip

Origin

A compound of "micro-" (small) and "chip," referring to the tiny silicon chips that carry electronic circuits.

microcode

Origin

From micro- + code.

microcosm

Greek

From Greek mikros ("small") plus kosmos ("world" or "universe") — literally a "small world," originally used to describe a human being as a miniature reflection of the universe.

microfilm

Origin

A compound of "micro-" (small) and "film," describing the miniature photographic copies used for compact document storage.

microkinesis

Origin

From micro- + -kinesis.

microlith

Origin

From micro- + -lith. In the sense of rock components, the name was suggested by Vogelsang in 1867.

microneedling

English

A compound of micro- meaning very small and needling, the action of pricking with needles.

micronesia

Origin

From Ancient Greek μικρόνησος (mikrónēsos, “small island”, from μικρός (mikrós, “small, minimum”) + νῆσος (nêsos, “island”)) + -ia.

microphone

Greek

Built from Greek mikros ("small") and phone ("sound" or "voice") — literally "small sound" or "sound amplifier."

microprocessor

Origin

From micro- + processor.

microscope

New Latin

From Greek mikros ("small") and skopein ("to look at"), borrowed via New Latin and Italian — literally an instrument "to look at small things."

microscopic

Origin

Formed from "microscope" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-ic."

microseism

Origin

From micro- + seism.

Microsoft

Origin · 1970

A blend of "microcomputer" and "software," coined when the company was founded in the 1970s to sell software for early personal computers.

microwave

Origin

A compound of "micro-" (small) and "wave," referring to the short electromagnetic waves the oven uses to heat food.

mid

Old English

From Old English midd ("middle"), the same root that gives us "middle" and "midway." The slang sense meaning "mediocre" is a recent development, likely influenced by words like "middling."

midair

Origin

A compound of "mid-" (middle) and "air," describing a position partway through flight.

Midas

Greek

From the legendary King Midas of Greek mythology, who was granted the power to turn everything he touched into gold — a gift that ultimately became a curse.

midday

Old English

From Old English middæg, a straightforward compound of "mid-" (middle) and "day."

middle

Latin

From Old English middel, related to "mid" and ultimately to Latin medius — all sharing the ancient Indo-European root for "between" or "in the middle."

middle finger

Middle English

From Middle English myddel fynger. By surface analysis, middle + finger.

middleborn

Origin

From middle + born.

middleman

Origin

A straightforward compound of "middle" and "man," describing someone who stands between two parties in a transaction.

middlesex

Origin

From Old English Middelseaxan (literally “Middle Saxons”), which stood for both Middlesex and its people.

middlesome

Origin

From middle + -some.

Middleton

Old English

From Old English Middeltūn, from middle plus -ton ("settlement").

middletown

Origin

From middle + town.

middleware

English

A compound of middle and the -ware of software.

middleweight

Origin

A compound of "middle" and "weight," naming the boxing division that falls between the lighter and heavier weight classes.