Etymology

mizzle

mizz·le
M3I1Z10Z10L1E1

Today it means: To rain in very fine drops. Full definition →

Middle English misellen ← Middle Low German mes ← Middle Dutch mes
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mizzle · verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*meiǵʰ-
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*mihstuz
  3. Middle Dutch · derived frommes
  4. Middle Low German · derived frommes“urine”
  5. Middle English · inherited frommisellen“to drizzle”
  6. English todaymizzle

From Late Middle English misellen (“to drizzle”), cognate with Low German miseln, musseln (“to mizzle”), Dutch miezelen (“to drizzle, rain gently”). Of obscure origin, possibly a frequentative related to the base of mist; or, related to Middle Low German mes (“urine”), Middle Dutch mes, mis (“urine”), both from Old Saxon mehs (“urine”), from Proto-Germanic *mihstuz, *mihstaz, *mihsk- (“urine”), from *mīganą (“to urinate”), from Proto-Indo-European *meiǵʰ-, *omeiǵʰ- (“to urinate”). Compare also English micturate (“to urinate”), Old Frisian mese (“urine”), Low German miegen (“to urinate”), Dutch mijgen (“to urinate”), Danish mige (“to urinate”).

mizzle · verb2

  1. Shelta · borrowed frommi(e)sli“go”
  2. English todaymizzle

Unknown. Perhaps from Shelta mi(e)sli (“go”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.