Meanings
nounmirror (plural mirrors)
plural mirrors · alternative mirrour · alternative myrrhor
- A smooth surface, usually made of glass with reflective material painted on the underside, that reflects light so as to give an image of what is in front of it.
He broke the mirror with the pickaxe.
2 more examples
I had a look in the mirror to see if the blood had come off my face.
We could see the lorry in the mirror, so decided to change lanes.
Synonyms: glass, looking-glass
- figurativelyAn object, person, or event that reflects or gives a picture of another.
His story is a mirror into the life of orphans growing up.
1 more example
O goddess, heavenly bright, / Mirror of grace and majesty divine.
1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC - A mirror carp.
verbmirror (third-person singular simple present mirrors, present participle mirroring, simple past and past participle mirrored)
present singular third person mirrors · participle present mirroring · participle past mirrored · past mirrored · alternative mirrour · alternative myrrhor
- transitiveTo reflect, as in a mirror.
- transitiveTo act as a reflection of, either by being identical to, or by being identical but reversed.
The placement of the paintings mirrored the positions of the windows on the opposite wall.
- intransitivetransitiveOf an event, activity, behavior, to be identical to; to be a copy of; to imitate closely.
He tried to mirror Elvis's life by copying his fashion and mannerisms.
1 more example
“Does he mirror?” one therapist, who came to our home, asked. “What is mirroring?” I asked back. “Does he mimic what you do, like Simon Says?”
2023, Naomi Klein, “Autism and the Anti-Vax Prequel”, in Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBNSynonyms: mimic
- InternettransitivecomputingTo create something identical to (a website, etc.).
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA smooth surface, usually made of glass with reflective material painted on the underside, that reflects light so as to give an image of what is in front of it.
Similar
verbOf an event, activity, behavior, to be identical to; to be a copy of; to imitate closely.
Similar
Narrower
acoustic mirrorblack mirrorBragg mirrorburning mirrorcheval mirrorChinese magic mirrorconjugate mirrordistorting mirrordressing mirrordriving mirrorfold mirrorfunhouse mirrorgossip mirrorhalf-silvered mirrorhandmirrorion mirrorliquid mirrormagic mirrormagnetic mirrormilk mirrormirror pheasantone-way mirrorparabolic mirrorplane mirrorrearview mirrorrear-view mirrorrear vision mirrorrear-vision mirrorreflex mirrorshaving mirrorside mirrorside-view mirrorskinny mirrorsound mirrorspherical mirrorstreet mirrorsubmirrortrumeau mirrortwo-way mirrorwing mirror
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*smey-“to laugh, to be glad”
- Latinmīror“wonder at”
- Old Frenchmireor“mirror”
- Middle Englishmirour
- Englishmirror
From Middle English mirour, from Old French mireor (“mirror”, literally “looker, watcher”), from mirer (“look at”), from Latin mīror (“wonder at”), from mīrus (“wonderful”), from Proto-Indo-European *smey- (“to laugh, to be glad”). Displaced native Middle English schewere, schawere, from Old English sċēawere (“mirror”, literally “watcher”), which was also the word for "spy".
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans spieël
- spieëlsmooth reflecting surface
Ancient Greek κάτοπτρον, εἴσοπτρον
- κάτοπτρον (kátoptron)smooth reflecting surface
- εἴσοπτρον (eísoptron)smooth reflecting surface
Arabic مِرْآة, مراية
- مِرْآة (mirʔāh)smooth reflecting surface
- مراية (mirāya)smooth reflecting surface
- مِرَايَة (mirāya)smooth reflecting surface
- مراية (mrāya)smooth reflecting surface
Basque ispilu
- ispilusmooth reflecting surface
Bengali আয়না, আরশি
- আয়না (aẏna)smooth reflecting surface
- আরশি (arśi)smooth reflecting surface
- দর্পণ (dorpon)smooth reflecting surface
Bulgarian огледа́ло, отразявам се
- огледа́ло (ogledálo)smooth reflecting surface
- отразявам се (otrazjavam se)to reflect as in a mirror
- отразявам (otrazjavam)of an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
Catalan espill, mirall
- espillsmooth reflecting surface
- mirallsmooth reflecting surface
- còpiacomputing: replica of another site
- duplicarof an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
- copiarof an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
Chinese җинзы, 鏡 /镜
- җинзы (jinzɨ)smooth reflecting surface
- 鏡 /镜 (kiàⁿ)smooth reflecting surface
Chinese Cantonese 鏡 /镜
- 鏡 /镜 (geng³)smooth reflecting surface
Chinese Mandarin 鏡子 /镜子, 鑒 /鉴
- 鏡子 /镜子 (jìngzi)smooth reflecting surface
- 鑒 /鉴 (jiàn)smooth reflecting surface
- 鏡像 /镜像 (jìngxiàng)computing: replica of another site
Czech zrcadlo, zrcátko
- zrcadlosmooth reflecting surface
- zrcátkosmooth reflecting surface
Danish spejl
- spejlsmooth reflecting surface
Dari آیِینَه, آبْگِینَه
- آیِینَه (āyīna)smooth reflecting surface
- آبْگِینَه (ābgīna)smooth reflecting surface
- مِرْآت (mir'āt)smooth reflecting surface
Dutch spiegel
- spiegelsmooth reflecting surface
Esperanto spegulo, spegulo
- spegulosmooth reflecting surface
- spegulocomputing: replica of another site
Estonian peegel
- peegelsmooth reflecting surface
Finnish peili, kuvastin
- peilismooth reflecting surface
- kuvastinsmooth reflecting surface
- peilicomputing: replica of another site
- peilikopiocomputing: replica of another site
- kopiocomputing: replica of another site
- kuvastaaof an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
French glace, miroir
- glacesmooth reflecting surface
- miroirsmooth reflecting surface
- copiecomputing: replica of another site
- refléterto reflect as in a mirror
German Spiegel, Kopie
- Spiegelsmooth reflecting surface
- Kopiecomputing: replica of another site
Greek καθρέφτης, αναπαράσταση
- καθρέφτης (kathréftis)smooth reflecting surface
- αναπαράσταση (anaparástasi)computing: replica of another site
- αντίγραφο (antígrafo)computing: replica of another site
Hawaiian aniani kilo, aniani
- aniani kilosmooth reflecting surface
- anianismooth reflecting surface
Hebrew מַרְאָה, רְאִי
- מַרְאָה (mar'á)smooth reflecting surface
- רְאִי (re'í)smooth reflecting surface
Hindi दर्पण, शीशा
- दर्पण (darpaṇ)smooth reflecting surface
- शीशा (śīśā)smooth reflecting surface
- आईना (āīnā)smooth reflecting surface
- आरसी (ārsī)smooth reflecting surface
- प्रतिबिंबित करना (pratibimbit karnā)to reflect as in a mirror
Hungarian tükör, tükrözés
- tükörsmooth reflecting surface
- tükrözéscomputing: replica of another site
- tükrözto reflect as in a mirror
- utánozof an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
- tükrözcomputing: to create a replica of another site
Icelandic spegill, spegla
- spegillsmooth reflecting surface
- speglaof an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
Indonesian cermin
- cerminsmooth reflecting surface
Iranian Persian آیینِه, آبْگینِه
- آیینِه (âyine)smooth reflecting surface
- آبْگینِه (âbgine)smooth reflecting surface
- مِرْآت (mer'ât)smooth reflecting surface
Irish scáthán
- scáthánsmooth reflecting surface
Italian specchio, copia speculare
- specchiosmooth reflecting surface
- copia specularecomputing: replica of another site
Japanese 鏡, 姿見
- 鏡 (kagami)smooth reflecting surface
- 姿見 (sugatami)smooth reflecting surface
Korean 거울
- 거울 (geoul)smooth reflecting surface
Latin speculum
- speculumsmooth reflecting surface
Latvian spogulis
- spogulissmooth reflecting surface
Lithuanian veidrodis
- veidrodissmooth reflecting surface
Malay cermin
- cerminsmooth reflecting surface
Māori karaehe, karaihe
- karaehesmooth reflecting surface
- karaihesmooth reflecting surface
Norwegian Bokmål speil, speil
- speilsmooth reflecting surface
- speilcomputing: replica of another site
- speileof an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
Polish lustro, zwierciadło
- lustrosmooth reflecting surface
- zwierciadłosmooth reflecting surface
Portuguese espelho, cópia
- espelhosmooth reflecting surface
- cópiacomputing: replica of another site
- espelharto reflect as in a mirror
- espelharof an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
Punjabi ਸ਼ੀਸ਼ਾ, ਦਰਪਣ
- ਸ਼ੀਸ਼ਾ (śīśā)smooth reflecting surface
- ਦਰਪਣ (darpaṇ)smooth reflecting surface
- ਆਈਨਾ (āīnā)smooth reflecting surface
Romanian oglindă
- oglindăsmooth reflecting surface
Russian зе́ркало, зерца́ло
- зе́ркало (zérkalo)smooth reflecting surface
- зерца́ло (zercálo)smooth reflecting surface
- дублика́т (dublikát)computing: replica of another site
- ко́пия (kópija)computing: replica of another site
- отражать (otražatʹ)to reflect as in a mirror
- повторять (povtorjatʹ)of an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
- напоминать (napominatʹ)of an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
Scottish Gaelic sgàthan
- sgàthansmooth reflecting surface
Slovak zrkadlo, zrkadielko
- zrkadlosmooth reflecting surface
- zrkadielkosmooth reflecting surface
Spanish espejo, especular
- espejosmooth reflecting surface
- especularto reflect as in a mirror
- reflejar especularmenteto reflect as in a mirror
- reflejar espejadamenteto reflect as in a mirror
- espejarto reflect as in a mirror
- espejarseto reflect as in a mirror
- espejearto reflect as in a mirror
Swahili kioo
- kioosmooth reflecting surface
Swedish spegel
- spegelsmooth reflecting surface
Tagalog salamin espeho, panganinuhan
- salamin espehosmooth reflecting surface
- panganinuhansmooth reflecting surface
- salaminsmooth reflecting surface
Tamil கண்ணாடி, ஆடி
- கண்ணாடி (kaṇṇāṭi)smooth reflecting surface
- ஆடி (āṭi)smooth reflecting surface
Thai กระจก, กระจกเงา
- กระจก (grà-jòk)smooth reflecting surface
- กระจกเงา (grà-jòk-ngao)smooth reflecting surface
- กระจก (grà-jòk)computing: replica of another site
Turkish ayna, gözgü
- aynasmooth reflecting surface
- gözgüsmooth reflecting surface
- miratsmooth reflecting surface
- taklit etmekof an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
- kopyalamakof an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
- yansıtmakof an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect
Ukrainian дзе́ркало, зерца́ло
- дзе́ркало (dzérkalo)smooth reflecting surface
- зерца́ло (zercálo)smooth reflecting surface
- віддзерка́лювати (viddzerkáljuvaty)to reflect as in a mirror
- віддзерка́лити (viddzerkályty)to reflect as in a mirror
Urdu آئِینَہ, شِیشَہ
- آئِینَہ (āīna)smooth reflecting surface
- شِیشَہ (śīśa)smooth reflecting surface
- دَرْپَن (darpan)smooth reflecting surface
- مِرآت (mir'āt)smooth reflecting surface
- آبْگِینَہ (ābgīna)smooth reflecting surface
Vietnamese gương, kiếng
- gươngsmooth reflecting surface
- kiếngsmooth reflecting surface
- kínhsmooth reflecting surface
Welsh drych
- drychsmooth reflecting surface
Yiddish שפּיגל
- שפּיגל (shpigl)smooth reflecting surface
Zulu isibuko
- isibukosmooth reflecting surface
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with mirror
yourherewereyearherperclearnearmaturecareerensureheargearappearwearfearvoyeurreferoccurvolunteerpremierdearbeersir
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
APA
mirror. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mirror
MLA
“mirror.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mirror. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mirror,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mirror.
Source: mirror on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.