Etymology

mire

M3I1R1E1

Today it means: Deep mud; moist, spongy earth. Full definition →

Middle English mire ← Old Norse mýrr ← Proto-Norse [Term?]
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mire · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic*miuzijō
  2. Proto-Norse[Term?]
  3. Old Norsemýrr
  4. Middle Englishmire
  5. English todaymire

From Middle English mire, a borrowing from Old Norse mýrr, from Proto-Germanic *miuzijō, whence also Swedish myr, Norwegian myr, Icelandic mýri, Dutch *mier (in placenames, for example Mierlo). Related to Proto-Germanic *meusą, whence Old English mēos, and Proto-Germanic *musą, whence Old English mos (English moss). Doublet of (obsolete) mizzy.

mire · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*morwís
  2. Proto-Indo-European*mewr-ih₂
  3. Proto-Germanic*miurijǭ
  4. Proto-West Germanic*miurijā
  5. Old English*mȳre
  6. Middle Englishmire
  7. English todaymire

From Middle English mire, myre, from Old English *mīere, from Proto-West Germanic *miurijā, from Proto-Germanic *miurijǭ (“ant”), from Proto-Indo-European *morwís (“ant”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian miir (“ant”), Dutch mier (“ant”), Low German Miere (“ant”), Danish myre (“ant”), Faroese meyra (“ant”), Icelandic and Norwegian Bokmål maur (“ant”), Norwegian Nynorsk maur, møvver (“ant”), Swedish myra (“ant”), Crimean Gothic miera (“ant”), Finnish muurahainen (“ant”), Ingrian muurahain (“ant”); also Breton merien (“ants”), Cornish moryon (“ants”), Old Irish moirb (“ant”), Welsh mŷr (“ant”), Latin formīca, furmīca (“ant”), Greek μερμήγκι (mermígki), μυρμήγκι (myrmígki, “ant”), Albanian morr (“louse; aphid”), Belarusian мура́шка (muráška, “ant”), Bulgarian мрав (mrav), мра́вка (mrávka, “ant”), Czech brabenec, mravenec (“ant”), Kashubian marwa, mrówka (“ant”), Lower Sorbian mroja (“ant”), Macedonian мра́ва (mráva), мра́вка (mrávka, “ant”), Pannonian Rusyn брамушка (bramuška), ґрамушка (gramuška, “ant”), Polish mrówka (“ant”), Russian мураве́й (muravéj, “ant”), Serbo-Croatian мрав, mrav (“ant”), Slovak mravec (“ant”), Slovene mravlja (“ant”), Ukrainian мура́ха (muráxa, “ant”), Upper Sorbian mrowja (“ant”), Armenian մրջյուն (mrǰyun, “ant”), Baluchi مور (mor, “ant”), Central Kurdish مێروو (mêrû), مێروولە (mêrûle, “ant”), Northern Kurdish mûrî (“ant”), Ossetian мӕлдзыг (mælʒyg, “ant”), Persian مور (mōr / mur, “ant”), مورچه (mōrča / murče, “ant; hole; trench”), Sanskrit वम्र (vamra, “ant”).

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishmire all →

MayerMyres

Old Norsemýrr all →

Myer

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.