"M" Word Origins

middling

Origin

The noun is probably from middle (noun) + -ing; the adjective is most likely derived from the noun, and the adverb from the adjective.

middlingly

Origin

From middling + -ly.

midfield

Origin

A compound of "mid-" (middle) and "field," describing the central zone of a sports pitch.

Midgard

Old Norse

From Old Norse Midgardr, literally "middle enclosure" or "middle yard" — the world of mortals, midway between the heavens and the underworld.

midgate

Origin

From mid- + gate. From being a door in the middle of a truck, separating the front half from the rear half.

midge

Old English

From Old English mycg, a very old Germanic word for the small biting insect, closely related to words like Dutch mug and German Mücke.

midget

Origin

From midge (chiefly in the figurative sense of “small thing”, literally “small fly”) + -et (diminutive suffix), (from Old English myċġ (“mosquito”), from Proto-Germanic *mugjō, from Proto-Indo-European *mus-, *mu-, *mew-; cognate with Dutch mug (“mosquito”) and German Mücke (“midge, gnat”)).

midground

Origin

From mid- + ground.

midland

Middle English

From Middle English mydlonde, simply "mid" + "land" — the land in the middle.

midlife

Origin

Simply "mid" + "life".

midness

Origin

Synchronically, by surface analysis, mid + -ness; diachronically, known to have an equivalent etymon in Old English and probably never absent from the language since then, albeit rare.

midnight

Old English

From Old English midniht, from "mid-" + "night" — literally the middle of the night.

Midori

Japanese

From Japanese みどり (midori), meaning "green" — also used as a given name.

midpoint

Origin

From mid + point.

midriff

Origin

From Middle English midref, mydrif, from Old English midrif, midhrif (“the midriff; diaphragm”), from Proto-West Germanic *middjahrif. Equivalent to mid- + riff.

midst

Old English

From Middle English middes/myddest, reshaped from Old English midde ("middle") on the pattern of superlative endings like "-est".

midsummer

Old English

From Old English midsumor, "mid-" + "summer" — the middle point of summer.

midterm

Origin

From "mid-" + "term".

midtown

Origin

From "mid-" + "town".

midway

Old English

From Old English midweġ, "mid-" + "way".

midweek

Origin

From mid- + week. Compare Saterland Frisian Midwiek (“Wednesday”, literally “midweek”), German Low German Middeweek (“Wednesday”, literally “midweek”), German Mittwoch (“Wednesday”, literally “midweek”).

Midwest

Origin

From "mid-" + "West", describing the region between the East Coast and the western states.

midwife

Middle English

From Middle English midwif, from "mid" ("with") + "wif" ("woman") — literally "with-woman", someone who is with the mother during birth.

midwifery

Origin

From Middle English medewifry; equivalent to midwife + -ery.

Mie

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 三重 (Mie).

mien

Origin

From French mine (“appearance”) (whence also Danish mine and German Miene), perhaps from Breton min (“face of an animal”), or from Latin minio (“to redden”).

miff

Origin

Compare German muffeln (“grouse, grumble”) and similar German words with similar meanings such as Muff, mupf, Muffel and Dutch moppen (“growl, grouse”). Probably related to mop (“grimace”).

miffed

Origin

From "miff" (a fit of annoyance) + "-ed".

Mifflin

Origin

An English surname of unexplained origin.

mig

Origin

The milligram sense probably comes from how "mg" is pronounced; "MiG" comes from the initials of Soviet designers Mikoyan and Gurevich.

might

Old English

From Old English miht/meaht ("ability, power, strength"), related to "may".

mightily

Old English

From Old English meahtiglice, "mighty" + the adverb-forming suffix "-ly".

mightless

Origin

From Middle English mightles, from Old English mihtlēas, mihtelēas, from Proto-Germanic *mahtilausaz; equivalent to might + -less. Cognate with Scots michtles, Saterland Frisian machtloos, West Frisian machteleas, Dutch machteloos, German Low German machtlos, German machtlos, Swedish maktlös, Icelandic máttlaus.

mightly

Origin

From Middle English mightli, myȝtly, from Old English mihtelīċ (“possible, able, capable”), from Proto-West Germanic *mahtilīk, from Proto-Germanic *mahtilīkaz, *mahtulīkaz, equivalent to might + -ly. Cognate with Swedish maktlig (“powerful”).

mighty

Old English

From Old English mihtiġ, from "miht" ("might") + "-y".

mignon

French

From French mignon ("darling, dainty"), ultimately from a Frankish word for love or affection. A doublet of "minion".

migraine

French

From French migraine, ultimately from Greek hēmikrania — "hēmi-" ("half") + "kranion" ("skull") — describing pain in one half of the head.

migrant

Latin

From French migrant, from Latin migrare ("to move from one place to another").

migrate

Latin

From Latin migratus, the past participle of migrare ("to move, shift, transport").

migration

Latin

From Latin migratio, from migrare ("to migrate").

migratory

Latin

From Latin migratorius, related to migrare ("to migrate").

Miguel

Latin

From Hebrew via Greek and Latin Michael ("who is like God?"), through Spanish and Portuguese. A doublet of Michael and Mikhail.

Miho

Japanese

From Japanese みほ (Miho).

mija

Spanish

A contraction of Spanish mi hija, "my daughter".

mijo

Spanish

A contraction of Spanish mi hijo, "my son".

Mika

Hebrew

From Japanese みか (Mika), or separately from Hebrew מִיכָה (Micah).

mikado

Japanese

Borrowed from Japanese 御門 (mikado), literally "honourable gate" — a respectful, indirect way of referring to the emperor.

mike

Origin

A shortening of "mic", itself short for "microphone"; in radio spelling alphabets, "Mike" stands for the letter M.