Etymology

mistreat

M3I1S1T1R1E1A1T1

Today it means: To treat someone, or something roughly or badly. Full definition →

English treat ← Middle English mys- ← Old English mis-
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
  3. Proto-Germanic*missaz
  4. Proto-Germanic*missa-
  5. Proto-West Germanic*missa-
  6. Old Englishmis-
  7. Middle Englishmys-
  8. Englishmis-
  9. Englishtreat
  10. English todaymistreat

From mis- + treat.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.