"M" Word Origins

mischievous

Old French

From Middle English mischevous, from Old French meschever ("to come to a bad end"), from mes- ("mis-") + chever ("to finish," from chef, "head").

miscommunication

Origin

From mis- + communication.

miscomputation

Origin

From mis- + computation.

miscompute

Origin

From mis- + compute.

misconceive

Origin

From Middle English misconceiven, equivalent to mis- + conceive.

misconception

Origin

From mis- + conception, "a wrongly formed idea."

misconduct

Origin

From mis- + conduct.

misconstrue

Origin

From Middle English misconstruen, equivalent to mis- + construe.

miscopy

Origin

From mis- + copy.

miscreant

Old French

From Old French mescreant, "disbeliever," from mes- + creire ("to believe"); it originally meant someone with the wrong religious faith before shifting to mean a wrongdoer generally.

misdeed

Origin

From Middle English misdede, from Old English misdǣd (“misdeed”), from Proto-West Germanic *missadādi, from Proto-Germanic *missadēdiz (“misdeed”); equivalent to mis- + deed. Cognate with Scots misded (“misdeed”), West Frisian misdied (“misdeed”), Dutch misdaad (“misdeed”), German Missetat (“misdeed”), Swedish missdåd (“misdeed”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍃𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃 (missadēþs, “misdeed”).

misdemean

Origin

From mis- + demean.

misdemeanor

Origin

From mis- + demeanor.

misdemeanorize

Origin

From misdemeanor + -ize.

misdirection

Origin

From mis- + direction.

miser

Latin

From Latin miser, "wretched, unhappy" — the sense shifted over time from "a wretched person" to "a person made wretched by greed."

miserable

Latin

From Latin miserabilis, based on miser ("wretched").

miserably

Origin

From miserable + -ly.

miserly

Origin · 1540

From miser + -ly, in use since the 1540s.

misery

Latin

From Latin miseria, from miser ("wretched").

misfabricate

Origin

From mis- + fabricate.

misfeel

Origin

From mis- + feel.

misfire

Origin

Either a fusion of the older phrase "miss fire" or a direct combination of mis- + fire.

misfit

Origin

From mis- + fit.

misfortunate

Origin

From misfortune + -ate (adjective-forming suffix) or mis- + fortunate.

misfortune

Origin

From mis- + fortune.

misgiving

Origin

From misgive, from mis- + give, from Middle English give (“suggest, given”). Compare given and what gives.

misgrace

Origin

From mis- + grace.

misguilt

Origin

From Middle English misgilt, equivalent to mis- + guilt.

Misha

Hebrew

A hypocoristic form of the Russian Mikhail, ultimately from Hebrew, the source of Michael.

mishallowed

Origin

From mis- + hallowed.

mishandle

Origin

From Middle English mishandlen, equivalent to mis- + handle. Cognate with Saterland Frisian mishondelje, West Frisian mishandelje, Dutch mishandelen (“to mistreat”), German misshandeln (“to mistreat”).

mishap

Middle English

From Middle English mishap, from mis- + hap ("luck, chance").

mishappiness

Origin

From mis- + happy + -ness.

mishear

Origin

From Middle English misheren, from Old English mishȳran, mishīeran (“to hear amiss, not listen to, disobey”), equivalent to mis- + hear.

misheed

Origin

From mis- + heed.

Mishima

Japanese

Named after the Japanese city of Mishima, either because the pottery-making technique passed through there from Korea, or after a type of almanac once printed in the town.

mishmash

Origin

Attested since the late 15th century, Middle English mysse masche, probably a reduplication of mash, although a Yiddish origin or influence has also been suggested. Cognates include Saterland Frisian Miskmask and German Mischmasch.

Mishra

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit miśra.

misinformation

Origin

From mis- + information.

misinterpret

Origin

From mis- + interpret.

misjudge

Origin

From mis- + judge.

misken

Origin

From Middle English *miskennen (suggested by miskenninge (“mistake, misinterpretation”)), from Old English *miscennan (suggested by miscennung (“a mistake or variation in pleading before a court, or a fine exacted for this mistake”)), equivalent to mis- + ken. Cognate with Scots misken (“to not know, misken”), Dutch miskennen (“to fail to recognise, ignore”), German mißkennen (“to misunderstand”), Swedish misskänna (“to misunderstand”).

mislay

Origin

From Middle English mysse layen, equivalent to mis- + lay.

mislead

Old English

From Old English mislǣdan, from mis- + lǣdan ("to lead").

misleading

Origin

From mislead + -ing.

mislike

Origin

From Middle English misliken (“to displease, offend; to disturb mentally, peturb; to dislike, find distasteful; to be unpleasant; to be displeased, dissatisfied, or unhappy; to feel sorry for (someone’s misfortune); of fruit or a tree: to fail to flourish”) [and other forms], from Old English mislīcian (“to displease; to disquiet”), from mis- (prefix meaning ‘bad; badly; wrong; wrongly’, or indicating a failure or lack) + līcian (“to like; to appeal to, please”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“like, similar; even, level”)). The English word is analysable as mis- + like. Cognates * Middle Dutch mislīken * Middle Low German mislīken * Old High German misselīchēn (“to displease”) (Middle High German misselīchen) * Old Norse mislíka (Icelandic mislíka (“to dislike”)) * Old Swedish mislika (modern Swedish misslika)

mismatch

Origin

From mis- + match (verb sense).