Etymology — The origins of English words

From Latin mefītis, mephītis, from the name of a Samnite goddess who personified the poisonous gases emitted from swamps and volcanoes.

Of uncertain origin. More information The two-time occurrence of -ph- which is the Roman transliteration for Ancient Greek φ and of the termination -es which transliterates Ancient Greek -ης as in Aristoteles (Ἀριστοτέλης) along with the resemblance -phel-/-phil- bears to φιλεῖν (phileîn, “to love”) has led many to believe that this must originally be a Greek compound word. Based on this assumption, the first two letters have been identified with μή (mḗ, “not”), while -phisto-/-phosto- has been interpreted as a corruption of φωτο- (phōto-), the compositional form of φῶς (phôs, “light”). The name would thus mean "not loving light" which seems fitting for a devil. However, there are two major problems with this theory. Firstly, phōto- is a common and clearly recognizable morpheme in Greek, making it an unlikely candidate for corruption. Secondly, μή (mḗ) is not typically used in Ancient Greek name formation. A more credible explanation has been proposed by Julius Goebel. He focuses on the alternative form Mephistophiel, which appears in the Praxis Cabulae nigrae Doctoris Johannis Fausti magi celeberrimi (1612). He interprets mephist- as a disguised form of megist-, transliterating μέ

Origin unknown; first known to have come into use in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A., in the mid-1920s.

From New Latin minerālogia, from Medieval Latin minera (“mineral”) + Latin -logia (“study”). By surface analysis, mineral + -logy.

From mis- + fabricate.

From French modifiable. By surface analysis, modify + -able.

From mis- + balance.

From near + shore.

From melano- + -oid.

Variant of Moffat.

From muck + worm.

From mini- + -fy.

Evidently popularized circa early 2010s by memes on 4chan, but usage online is first attested in c. 2003.

From mer- + horse.

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.

From moron + -icity or moronic + -ity.

From multi- + cropping.

From Ancient Greek Ναθαναήλ (Nathanaḗl), from Biblical Hebrew נְתַנְאֵל (Netan'el, literally “God has given”).

Borrowed from Latin meretrīx.

Variant of Naomi.

From middle + born.

PIE word *méǵh₂s From mega- (prefix meaning ‘very large, great’) + -lith (suffix meaning ‘stone’), a back-formation from megalithic probably modelled after monolith. from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos, “stone”)

From mucosa + -al.

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)