Etymology — The origins of English words

From mis- + union.

From Middle English morfounden, morefounden (“to take cold”), from Middle French morfondre (“to chill, to cool”), from Franco-Provençal mor, more (“snout”) + Middle French fondre (“to melt”), where the first part comes from Vulgar Latin *murrum (“muzzle, snout”), and the second from Latin fundere. Cognate with French morfondre. The noun is inherited from Middle English mareffownd, mareffownde, likely from the Middle English morfounden, morefounden (“to take cold”).

From matron + -ize.

Learned borrowing from Latin mentum (“the chin”). Doublet of menton.

From the fusion of Middle English misbidden (to mistreat; equivalent to mis- + bid) and Middle English misbeden (“to mistreat; abuse; outrage; offend; insult”), from Old English misbēodan (“to ill-use, injure, do wrong to, announce wrongly”), equivalent to mis- + bid (“to offer, declare”).

From Middle English mummer, mommer, equivalent to mum + -er, perhaps conflating with Old French momeor (“jester, entertainer”), from mommer (“to wear a mask”), from momon (“mask”). Compare German Mumme (“mask”), 16th Century German mummen (“to disguise oneself”), Middle Dutch mommen, mummen (“to go about in a mask, to disguise”), Middle Low Saxon mommen (“to wear a mask, to disguise”), Dutch mom (“mask”) and mimmen (“to mask”) as well as Spanish momo (“grimace”). Perhaps both of the conflated terms are from the same ultimate root, as note Middle Low Saxon mummen (“to speak indistinctly, to disguise oneself”), Dutch mommen (“to speak indistinctly”), German mummen (“to speak indistinctly”), English mump (“to grimace, mumble”).

From necessity + -ous, after Middle French nécessiteux.

Two main origins: * A variant of Neville or Noel. * Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Tnúthghail (“descendant of Tnúthgal”), a personal name composed by the elements tnúth (“desire; envy”) + gal (“valor”).

Borrowed from Arabic مَسْقَط (masqaṭ).

From meta- + morph + -ize.

From mer- + wolf.

From mud + puddle.

Back-formation from mixologist. By surface analysis, mix + -ology.

From New Latin myocardium, from Ancient Greek μῦς (mûs, “muscle”) + καρδίᾱ (kardíā, “heart”).

Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mac Pheadruis (“son of Peter”).

From net + mail.

Borrowed from Afrikaans mielie, from obsolete Dutch milie (“millet, maize”), from Old French mil (“millet”).

From mechano- + -oid.

From mop (“child, girl”) + -et.

Borrowed from Hindi मैना (mainā) / Urdu مینا (mainā), from Sanskrit मदन (madana).

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

From Middle English medike, from Latin mēdica, from Ancient Greek μηδίκη (mēdíkē), short for Μηδικὴ πόα (Mēdikḕ póa, “Median grass”); so called because medick was imported from Media to Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars.

From French mystifier, from Ancient Greek μυστικός (mustikós, “secret, mystic”) + Latin -ficare.

From Old English mos (“moss, bog”) + lēah (“meadow”).