Meanings
plural mizzies · alternative mizzey · alternative mizz
- dialectalobsoleteA bog or quagmire.
They draggunt meh thro' wick thurns, o'er doytch-backs un thro' mizzies, […]
1819, Paul Bobbin, Sequel Lanc. Dial., page 391 more example
For miles in every direction lay the old forest of Gardomwood, a relic of primeval woodland, rich in glades and brakes, in streamlets and mizzies.
1894, R. Murray Gilchrist, Dame Inowslad
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*meusą“moss, moor”
- Proto-Germanic*miusijō“swamp, bog”
- Proto-West Germanic*miusiju
- Old English*mȳsiġ
- Middle Englishmisy“swamp, bog”
- Englishmizzy
From Middle English misy (“swamp, bog”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old English *mȳsiġ, *mīesiġ, from Proto-West Germanic *miusiju, from Proto-Germanic *miusijō (“swamp, bog”, literally “mossy place”), from Proto-Germanic *meusą (“moss, moor”), related to Old Norse mýrr (“swamp, bog, moor”, whence the English doublet mire), Middle English mes, mease, mise, mese (“moss”), from Old English mēos (“moss”). Compare also dialectal English mizzick, mizzack, mezzack, mizuk, perhaps the same word with a suffix akin to -ock.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
mizzy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mizzy
“mizzy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mizzy. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mizzy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mizzy.
Source: mizzy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.