Word origins

• megalographA camera lucida that uses images from kaleidoscopes or microscopes
• megameterAn instrument for determining longitude by observation of the stars.
• Meganticoisa resident of Lac-Megantic, Quebec
• MeilletA surname from French.
• melancholizeTo make melancholy.
• melangeurA machine for grinding ingredients and mixing them when making chocolate (or rarely nut butter, etc), consisting of roller stones inside a drum.
• melanismCongenital abundance or excess of melanin pigmentation in the skin, hair, feathers and/or eyes, more than is typical for the species.
• melezitoseA non-reducing trisaccharide sugar produced by many insects that consume plant sap.
• meliturgyBeekeeping; the preparation of honey.
• melomaniaAn abnormal love of music.
• ménage à moiMasturbation or an act of masturbation, especially by a woman.
• ménage à quatreA household or relationship whereby four people live together as lovers.
• mendoleA fish, Spicara maena, the cackerel.
• meniliteA greyish-brown form of opal.
• menologeSynonym of menologium, a monthly record, particularly in certain Christian contexts
• mentonnièreAn item of armor protecting the chin, often identified with or used interchangeably with the bevor.
• Merasheen IslandAn island of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
• merceryThe trade of mercers.
• merchandTo trade; to traffic.
• mercy bucketsThanks very much.
• Mer de GlaceA glacier above the Chamonix valley in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.
• merelsnine men's morris
• mereseA flat, sharp-edged button, often a disc-shaped knob, separating the stem of a drinking-glass from the foot.
• merideAn interval of pitch equal to 1/43 of an octave.
• merluceThe European hake.
• merogamyMerogony.
• -merousHaving parts of the specified quality.
• merroirThe complete set of local conditions in which seafood is raised. The total characteristics or phenotype of an organism due to attributes such as harvest and cultivation technique, salinity, tides, local food sources, seasonality, and climate.
• mesophyteAny normal terrestrial plant that grows in environments that have an average supply of water.
• metacentreThe point where a vertical line through a tilted vessel's center of buoyancy intersects the originally-vertical (but-now-tilted) line that passed through the center of buoyancy when the vessel was upright; it must be above the vessel's center of gravity for the vessel to have positive static stability (to tend to return to an upright orientation if rolled to one side, rather than to continue rolling to an inverted orientation).
• metayageA kind of sharecropping system.
• MetonicOf or pertaining to Meton of Athens.
• metopomancyDivination by interpreting the facial lines and wrinkles, especially the forehead.
• metric systemThe system of units developed in France in the 1790s and now used worldwide.
• meunière sauceA simple sauce made with brown butter, chopped parsley, and lemon.
• mézairIn manège, a movement comprising a series of levades with small steps between.
• microcephalicHaving an abnormally small head.
• migniardsoft; dainty
• migraineurOne who experiences migraines.
• Mille Lacs CountyOne of 87 counties in Minnesota, United States. County seat: Milaca.
• millistereA unit equal to one litre or cubic decimetre
• mimiambA short humorous dramatic scene in verse.
• mimologicsphonetic symbolism
• Ming's BightA town in Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
• mirativeA grammatical mood that expresses (surprise at) unexpected revelations or new information.
• misallianceAn unsuitable alliance, especially an unsuitable marriage.
• MishoeA surname from French.
• misogynoirContempt for, hatred of, or prejudice against black women.
• misseyA surname from French.
• mock-upA scale or full-size model of a design or device which is not fully functional, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, or other purposes.
• moderantismThe moderate policies of the Girondists and Dantonists during the French Revolution
• moderantistA proponent of moderantism.
• modisteA person who makes or sells fashionable women's clothing, especially dresses or hats.
• moelleuxOf mid-level sweetness.
• moellineAn unguent for the hair.
• moineauA small flat bastion, raised in the middle of an overlong curtain.
• molasseA shallow deposit of sandstone, shale and conglomerate in front of a rising mountain chain.
• MonégasqueA native or inhabitant of Monaco.
• MonnettA surname from French.
• monogynousExhibiting or relating to monogyny, having only one queen.
• monomaniaExcessive interest or concentration on a singular object or subject.
• -montForming a placename or a surname derived therefrom and denoting or connoting a hill or mountain; sometimes (as in estate names) used more for euphony and connotation than for geomorphic denotation. Word formation in English using the suffix to name towns and family estates was most productive in the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries.
• MontérégieAn administrative region in southwestern Quebec.
• MoragneA surname from French.
• morcellateTo break into small pieces, prior to removal
• mormalA bad sore; a cancer or gangrene.
• morosityThe state or quality of being morose.
• morosophA philosophical or learned fool.
• morphineuseA woman who habitually takes morphine, a female morphine addict; also, a woman who supplies morphine to users.
• morphinomaneSomeone who is addicted to morphine.
• MorricalA surname from French.
• mortpayThe crime of taking pay for the service of dead soldiers, or for services not actually rendered by soldiers.
• moschatelA plant of species Adoxa moschatellina, with distinctively configured pale green flowers and a musky smell, of boreal circumpolar distribution.
• MosseyA surname from French.
• moulinetA circular cut, often composed of a parry, usually prime or seconde, moving thence into a circular cut.
• mournivalIn the game of gleek, and other card games, a set of four cards of the same face value.
• mousselineA very fine, semi-opaque fabric similar to muslin, typically made of silk, wool or cotton.
• mucosityThe state of being mucous or containing mucus.
• multicapsularHaving several capsules.
• mummiformHaving the shape of a mummy.
• mundializationAn ideology based on the solidarity and diversity of global citizens and the creation of supranational laws, intended as a response to dehumanizing aspects of globalization.
• muscardinThe common European dormouse.
• muscardineA fungal disease, caused by Beauveria bassiana and other species, that affects silkworms, their bodies becoming white and covered with spores.
• musculosityMuscularity.
• musketoonA firearm, similar to a musket but with a shorter barrel and a large bore.
• muslinetA sort of coarse or light cotton muslin.
• mysticityThe quality of being mystic or mystical.
• nacriteA basic aluminium silicate clay that is a polymorph of kaolinite
• nagorThe bohor reedbuck, Redunca redunca.
• naphthameinA product formed by the oxidation of naphthalamine (also called naphthylamine), which was observed to produce blue precipitates that later became purple but that was considered useless as a commercial dyeing agent due to its poor color quality.
• naporitanA Japanese dish styled on Neapolitan food; spaghetti topped with ketchup or tomato sauce, onion, button mushrooms, green peppers, bacon and Tabasco sauce.
• nascalA kind of pessary of medicated wool or cotton.
• naufrageshipwreck
• néUsed when giving the former name of a man.
• nebulyEdged in a deeply wavy line, intended to represent clouds.
• necessaireA small case for holding personal items, especially toiletries.
• NeddoA surname from French.
• negocebusiness; occupation or enterprise
• negotiantSomeone who conducts negotiations; a negotiator, an agent.
• nematocystA capsule, in certain cnidarians, containing a barbed, threadlike tube that delivers a paralyzing sting