Etymology dictionary

miserable (adj.) — mist (v.)

miserable (adj.)

early 15c., "full of misery, causing wretchedness" (of conditions), from Old French miserable (14c.) and directly from Latin miserabilis "pitiable, miserable, deplorable, lamentable," from miserari "to pity, lament, deplore," from miser "wretched" (see miser). Of persons, "existing in a state of want, suffering, wretchedness, etc.," it is attested from 1520s. Meaning "mentally full of misery, wretched in feeling unhappy," by 1590s. Related: Miserableness.

The sense associated with miser, "covetous, miserly," is attested from late 15c., but by 1895 (Century Dictionary) was "obsolete or Scotch." As a noun, "an unfortunate, an unhappy creature," 1530s (reinforced later by the French cognate, as in Hugo's "Les Misérables").

miser (n.)

1540s, "miserable person, wretch," from Latin miser (adj.) "unhappy, wretched, pitiable, in distress," a word for which "no acceptable PIE pedigree has been found" [de Vaan]. The oldest English sense now is obsolete; the main modern meaning of "money-hoarding person" ("one who in wealth conducts himself as one afflicted with poverty" - Century Dictionary) is recorded by 1560s, from the presumed unhappiness of such people. The older sense is preserved in miserable, misery, etc.

Besides general wretchedness, the Latin word connoted also "intense erotic love" (compare slang got it bad "deeply infatuated") and hence was a favorite word of Catullus. In Greek a miser was kyminopristes, literally "a cumin seed splitter." In Modern Greek, he might be called hekentabelones, literally "one who has sixty needles." The German word, filz, literally "felt," preserves the image of the felt slippers which the miser often wore in caricatures. Lettish mantrausis "miser" is literally "money-raker."

Miserere (n.)

c. 1200, "recitation of the 51st Psalm" (in Vulgate, the 50th), one of the "Penitential Psalms," so called from the phrase Miserere mei Deus "Have mercy upon me, O God," the opening line of it in the Vulgate, from Latin miserere "feel pity, have compassion, commiserate," second person singular imperative of misereri "to have mercy," from miser "wretched, pitiable" (see miser).

From 15c.-17c. it was used as an informal measure of time, "the time it takes to recite the Miserere." The musical settings of the psalm are noted for their striking effectiveness. The Latin verb also is in miserere mei "kind of severe colic ('iliac passion') accompanied by excruciating cramps and vomiting of excrement" (1610s); literally "have mercy on me."

misery (n.)

late 14c., "state of grievous affliction, condition of external unhappiness," from Old French misere "miserable situation, misfortune, distress" (12c.), from Latin miseria "wretchedness," from miser "wretched, pitiable" (see miser). Meaning "condition of one in great sorrow or mental distress" is from 1530s.

miserly (adj.)

"like a miser, penurious, parsimonious," 1590s, from miser + -ly (1). Related: Miserliness.

misestimate (v.)

"estimate erroneously," 1778, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + estimate (v.). Related: Misestimated; misestimating. As a noun by 1843 (misestimation is by 1809).

misfeasance (n.)

"misuse of power, wrongful exercise of lawful authority or improper performance of a lawful act," 1590s, from French mesfaisance, from mesfaisant, present participle of Old French mesfaire "to misdo," from mes- "wrongly" (see mis- (2)) + faire "to do," from Latin facere "to make, do, perform" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Related: Misfeasor.

misfield (v.)

1870, from mis- (1) + field (v.) in the sporting sense. Related: Misfielded; misfielding.

misfire (v.)

1752, of a gun, "to fail in firing;" by 1893 of an internal combustion engine; see mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + fire (v.). Perhaps the first element is miss (v.); to miss fire, of a gun, is attested by 1727. Related: Misfired; misfiring. Figurative use by 1942. The noun is attested from 1839 in reference to a gun or cannon.

misfit (n.)

1823, originally slang, "garment or suit of clothes which does not fit the person for whom it was intended;" see mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + fit (n.1). Hence anything that fails of its intended effect; the meaning "person who does not fit his environment" is attested by 1880.

misfortune (n.)

mid-15c., "unfortunate event or circumstance," from mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + fortune. From c. 1500 as "adversity or ill fortune for which the sufferer is not directly responsible." In 19c., it was a euphemism for "illegitimate child." Related: Misfortunate.

misgiving (n.)

c. 1600, "feeling of mistrust or sudden apprehension, a failing of confidence," verbal noun from misgive "make apprehensive, cause to feel doubt" (1510s), usually said of one's heart or mind, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + give (v.) in its secondary Middle English sense of "suggest." Related: Misgivings.

misgovern (v.)

"to govern ill, administer unfaithfully," c. 1400, misgovernen, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + govern. Related: Misgoverned; misgoverning.

misgovernance (n.)

"misbehavior, misconduct," also "misrule, bad government of a country or state," late 14c., misgovernaunce, from mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + governance.

misgovernment (n.)

late 14c., "want of self-restraint, misbehavior" (a sense now obsolete), from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + government. Meaning "bad government, management, or administration of public or private affairs" is from 1590s.

misguess (v.)

"to guess wrongly or erroneously," 1530s, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + guess (v.). Related: Misguessed; misguessing.

misguidance (n.)

"bad or erroneous guidance, harmful direction or advice," 1630s, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + guidance.

misguided (adj.)

"erring in purpose or action," 1650s, past-participle adjective from misguide (v.). Earlier, "ill-behaved" (late 15c.). Related: Misguidedly; misguidedness.

misguide (v.)

late 14c., "to go astray, direct (oneself) badly," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + guide (v.). Transitive sense of "to guide in the wrong direction, lead astray in action or thought" is attested by c. 1500. Related: Misguided; misguiding.

mishandle (v.)

"to maltreat," late 14c. (implied in mishandling), from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + handle (v.). Related: Mishandled.

mishap (n.)

mid-13c., "bad luck, misfortune, unlucky accident," from mis- (1) "bad" + hap (n.) "luck." It probably was formed on analogy of Old French mescheance (see mischance (n.)). Meaning "unfortunate event" is from mid-14c.

mishappen (v.)

"to happen ill, meet with misfortune, come to grief," mid-14c., from mis- (1) + happen. Related: Mishappened; mishappening. The word now is obsolete. Chaucer uses mishappy; mishappiness was in use 16c.-17c.

mishear (v.)

c. 1200, misheren, "to hear or listen to (sinful talk)," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + hear (v.). Sense of "to hear incorrectly, mistake in hearing" is attested by mid-13c. Related: Misheard; mishearing. Old English mishieran, mishyran meant "to disobey."

mishmash (n.)

also mish-mash, late 15c., mysse-masche, probably an imitative reduplication of mash (n.). Compare German mischmasch, Danish miskmask.

Mishnaic (adj.)

1718, "of or belonging to the Mishnah," the collection of binding precepts and ancient rabbinical decisions forming the basis of the Talmud, from Hebrew, literally "repetition, instruction," from shanah "to repeat," in post-Biblical Hebrew "to teach or learn (oral tradition)."

misidentification (n.)

"erroneous identification," 1858, from mis- (1) + identification.

misidentify (v.)

"to identify wrongly, mistake in identifying," 1895, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + identify. Related: Misidentified; misidentifying.

misinformed (adj.)

"having incorrect or imperfect acquaintance with the facts," mid-15c., past-participle adjective from misinform.

misinform (v.)

"inform erroneously, make a false statement to; give misleading instruction to," late 14c., misinfourmen, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + inform (v.). Related: Misinformed; misinforming.

misinformation (n.)

1580s, "action of misinforming;" 1660s, "wrong or false information," from mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + information.

misinterpretation (n.)

"a wrong understanding or explanation," 1570s, from mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + interpretation.

misinterpret (v.)

understand or explain wrongly or falsely," "1580s, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + interpret. Related: Misinterpreted; misinterpreting.

misjudgement (n.)

see misjudgment.

misjudge (v.)

"judge erroneously or wrongfully, form a wrong opinion," early 15c., misjugen, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + judge (v.). Related: Misjudged; misjudging.

misjudgment (n.)

"erroneous judgment," 1520s, from mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + judgment.

misknow (v.)

1520s, "know imperfectly, misapprehend," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + know (v.). Related: Misknown; misknowing. In Middle English it meant "not to know or be aware of; not to recognize (someone)."

mislabel (v.)

"mark with a wrong label or address," 1865, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + label (v.). Related: Mislabeled; mislabelled; mislabeling; mislabelling.

mislay (v.)

c. 1400, misleien, "to misinterpret or misquote an authority," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + lay (v.) in the now-obsolete Middle English sense of "cite, allege, say." Main modern meaning of "lay in a wrong or unaccustomed place, put in a place afterward forgotten" is from 1610s. Related: Mislaid; mislaying.

mislead (v.)

Old English mislædan "to lead or guide wrongly," especially "to draw into error," a common Germanic compound (compare Middle Low German, Middle Dutch misleiden, Old High German misseleiten, German missleiten, Danish mislede); see mis- (1) + lead (v.). Related: misleading; misled.

misleading (adj.)

"tending to lead astray, deceptive," 1630s, present-participle adjective from mislead. Related: Misleadingly.

mislike (v.)

Old English mislician "to be displeasing to;" see mis- (1) + like (v.). Sense of "to be displeased with, dislike, be averse to" is attested from c. 1200. Related: Misliked; misliking. As a noun, "state of not liking, aversion," from c. 1300.

mismanage (v.)

"manage badly, conduct carelessly or improperly," 1680s, from mis- (1) + manage. Related: Mismanaged; mismanaging.

mismanagement

"careless or improper management," 1660s; see mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + management.

mismatch (n.)

"a bad match, discrepancy, lack of correspondence," c. 1600, from mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + match (n.2). Sports sense of "unfair contest due to unequal abilities" is by 1954. Related: Mismatchment (1841).

mismatch (v.)

"match unsuitable, unfitly, or inaccurately," 1590s, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + match (v.). In later use especially of marriage. Related: Mismatched; mismatching.

mismeasure (v.)

"measure incorrectly or inaccurately," 1742, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + measure (v.). Related: Mismeasured; mismeasuring; mismeasurement (1813).

misname (v.)

c. 1500 "to call (someone) by an unsuitable or injurious name;" see mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + name (v.). From 1520s as "to call by a wrong name." Related: Misnamed; misnaming.

misnomer (n.)

mid-15c., in law, "an error in a name, mistaken identification of an accused or convicted person," from Anglo-French, Old French mesnomer "to misname, wrongly name," noun use of infinitive, from mes- "wrongly" (see mis- (2)) + nomer "to name," from Latin nominare "nominate" (see nominate). For noun use of French infinitives, see waiver. Meaning "act of applying a wrong name or designation" is from 1630s.

misnumber (v.)

1610s, "to count or reckon incorrectly," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + number (v.). Related: Misnumbered; misnumbering.

miso-

word-forming element of Greek origin meaning "hater, hatred," before vowels, mis-, from Greek misos "hatred," misein "to hate," of uncertain etymology, perhaps from a Pre-Greek word. It was productive as a word-forming element in ancient Greek, for instance misoagathia "hatred of good or goodness;" misoponein "to hate work." In English it formed many compounds now obscure or recherche, but some perhaps still useful, such as misocapnic (adj.) "hating (tobacco) smoke," misocyny "hatred of dogs," misoneism "hatred of novelty."

miso (n.)

type of paste made from fermented soya beans and barley or rice malt, used in Japanese cooking, by 1727 (from 1615 as misso in the log-book of English pilot William Adams, published in 1916), from Japanese, of uncertain etymology; said to be from Middle Korean myècwú, the name of a comparable sauce.

misogamy (n.)

"hatred of marriage," 1650s, from Modern Latin misogamia, abstract noun from Greek misogamos "hating marriage;" see miso- + -gamy.

misogamist (n.)

"a marriage-hater," 1706; see misogamy + -ist.

misogynism (n.)

"hatred of women," 1815; see misogyny + -ism.

misogyny (n.)

"hatred of women," 1650s, from Modern Latin misogynia, from Greek misogynia, abstract noun from misogynēs "woman-hater," from miso- "hatred" (see miso-) + gynē "woman" (from PIE root *gwen- "woman"). Its opposite is philogyny (1620s).

misogynistic (adj.)

"woman-hating, hating the female sex," 1821; see misogynist + -ic. Related: Misogynistical (1850); alternative adjective misogynous is by 1805.

misogynist (n.)

"a woman-hater, one who has an aversion to women in general," 1610s, from Greek misogynēs "woman-hater" (see misogyny).

misology (n.)

"hatred of reason or knowledge," 1819; see miso- + -logy. Related: Misologist; misologue; misologistic. Greek misologia meant "hatred of argument."

misoneism (n.)

"hatred of novelty or innovation," 1884, from French misonéisme (1884), from Greek misos "hatred" (see miso-) + neos "new" (see new) + -ism. Related: Misoneist; misoneistic.

misotheism (n.)

"hatred of God," 1846, from Latinized form of Greek misothios; see miso- + -theism. Related: Misotheist; misotheistic.

misperception (n.)

"imperfect or erroneous perception," 1722; see mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + perception. Related: Misperceive (by 1867); misperceived; misperceiving.

misplace (v.)

1550s, "to assign a wrong position to;" 1590s, "place wrongly, put in a wrong place," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + place (v.). Of affections, confidence, etc., "to give to a wrong object," it is recorded from 1630s. Related: Misplaced; misplacing; misplacement.

misplay (n.)

"a wrong play," 1889 in baseball context, from mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + play (n.). As a verb from 1824 (originally in music; 1842 in games). Related: Misplayed; misplaying.

misprint (v.)

"make an error in printing (something)," late 15c.; from mis- (1) + print (v.). Related: misprinted; misprinting. The noun, "an error made in printing," is attested by 1745.

misprision (n.)

early 15c., in law, "wrong action; a failure, offense or illegal act," especially on the part of a public official, from Anglo-French misprisoun, mesprisioun "mistake, error, wrong action or speech," (Old French mesprision "mistake, wrongdoing, fault, blame, crime"), from mespris, past participle of mesprendre "to mistake, act wrongly, trespass, transgress, break a law," from mes- "wrongly" (see mis- (2)) + prendre "take," from Latin prendere, contracted from prehendere "to seize" (from prae- "before," see pre-, + -hendere, from PIE root *ghend- "to seize, take").

In general, "criminal neglect in respect to the crime of another," especially in connection with felonies, to indicate a passive complicity, as by concealment. In 16c., misprision of treason was used for lesser degrees of guilt (those not subject to capital punishment), especially for knowing of treasonable actions or plots without assenting to them, but not informing the authorities. This led to the common supposition in legal writers that the word means etymologically "failure to denounce" a crime.

mispronounce (v.)

"pronounce erroneously or incorrectly," 1590s, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + pronounce. Related: Mispronounced; mispronouncing.

mispronunciation (n.)

"act of pronouncing incorrectly; a wrong or improper pronunciation," 1520s; see mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + pronunciation.

mispunctuate (v.)

"punctuate (written matter) erroneously or incorrectly," by 1843, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + punctuate (v.). Related: Mispunctuated; mispunctuating; mispunctuation (1812).

misquote (v.)

1590s, "misconstrue, misinterpret;" see mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + quote (v.). First recorded in Shakespeare.

The more usual modern sense of "cite incorrectly" is by 1690s. Related: Misquoted; misquoting. As a noun, "an incorrect quotation," from 1855.

misread (v.)

1714, "read wrongly, mistake the sense or significance of," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + read (v.). Middle English misreden (c. 1200) meant "give bad or false advice." Related: Misreading (which is attested by 1727 as a verbal noun meaning "erroneous citation, misinterpretation").

misremember (v.)

"mistake in calling to mind," 1530s, from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + remember. Related: Misremembered; misremembering.

misreport (v.)

"report incorrectly, give a false report," c. 1400, from mis- (1) + report (v.). Related: Misreported; misreporting.

misrepresent (v.)

1640s, "give a false or incorrect account of, whether intentionally or not," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + represent. Meaning "to fail to represent correctly as an agent of" is by 1860. Related: Misrepresented; misrepresenting.

misrepresentation (n.)

"unfair or dishonest account," 1640s, from mis- (1) "bad, wrong" + representation.

misrule (v.)

late 14c., misreulen, "rule badly, govern unwisely or oppressively," also "conduct oneself badly, misbehave;" from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + rule (v.). Related: Misruled; misruling.

misrule (n.)

late 14c., misreule, "bad government of a state;" see mis- (1) + rule (n.). Meaning "disorderly conduct or living, absence of control or restraint" is from c. 1400, obsolete except in Lord of Misrule, one chosen to preside over Christmas games in a great house (late 15c.). Related: Misruly.

miss (n.2)

"the term of honour to a young girl" [Johnson], originally (17c.) a shortened form of mistress (compare Mrs., pronounced mis-ez). By 1640s as "prostitute, concubine." By 1700 as "a young, unmarried woman."

Misses as a trade term (originally in the mail order business) for sizes or styles of clothes for girls from about 10 to 17 years old is by 1880. Miss America is from 1922 as the title bestowed on the winner of an annual nationwide U.S. beauty/talent contest. Earlier it meant "young American women generally" or "the United States personified as a young woman," and it also was the name of a fast motor boat. In the 1811 reprint of the slang dictionary, Miss Laycock is given as an underworld euphemism for "the monosyllable."

miss (v.)

Old English missan "fail to hit, miss (a mark); fail in what was aimed at; escape (someone's notice)," from Proto-Germanic *missjan "to go wrong" (source also of Old Frisian missa, Middle Dutch, Dutch missen, German missen "to miss, fail"), from *missa- "in a changed manner," hence "abnormally, wrongly," from PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move." Reinforced or influenced by cognate Old Norse missa "to miss, to lack." Related: Missed; missing.

Sense of "fail to find" (someone or something) is by late 12c. Meaning "fail to note, perceive, or observe" is from early 13c. Meaning "fail to reach or attain what one wants" is from mid-13c. Sense of "perceive with regret the absence or loss of (something or someone)" is from c. 1300. Meaning "omit, leave out, skip" is by mid-14c. Sense of "to escape, avoid" is from 1520s.

Sense of "to not be on time for" is from 1823; to miss the boat in the figurative sense of "be too late for" is from 1929, originally nautical slang. To miss out (on) "fail to get" is by 1929.

miss (n.1)

late 12c., "loss, lack; " c. 1200, "regret occasioned by loss or absence," from Old English miss "absence, loss," from source of missan "to miss" (see miss (v.)). Meaning "an act or fact of missing; a being without" is from late 15c.; meaning "a failure to hit or attain" is 1550s.

Phrase a miss is as good as a mile (1761) was originally an inch, in a miss, is as good as an ell (1610s; see ell). To give (something) a miss "to abstain from, avoid" is attested by 1919, perhaps from earlier use of the term in billiards, "to avoid hitting the object ball" (1807).

missing (adj.)

"not present or found, absent," 1520s, present-participle adjective from miss (v.). Military sense of "not present after a battle but not known to have been killed or captured" is from 1845. As a noun by 1855.

Missing link was used in various figurative senses before is attested 1846 in reference to forms of plant and animal life [Chambers, "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation"]; in reference to a hypothetical creature between man and the apes, as a component of Darwin's theory of evolution, by 1860.

In a popular religious tract of the late 1850s, "The Missing Link of the London Poor," the missing link was the Bible. Missing person, one who has disappeared and whose condition, whether alive or dead, is unknown, is by 1820.

missal (n.)

"book containing all the liturgical forms necessary for celebrating the Mass through the year," c. 1300, from Old French messel "book of the Mass" (12c.) and directly from Medieval Latin missale, neuter of adjective missalis "pertaining to the Mass," from Late Latin missa "Mass" (see mass (n.2)). As an adjective, "pertaining to the Mass or Mass-book," from mid-15c.

missel (n.)

Old English mistel "basil, mistletoe," from Proto-Germanic *mikhstilaz "mistletoe" (source also of Old Saxon mistil, Dutch mistel, Old High German mistil, German Mistel, Swedish mistel), a word of uncertain origin. According to Watkins, it is a diminutive form, so called because it "is propagated through the droppings of the missel thrush," from Germanic suffixed form *mih-stu-, "urine," hence "mist, fine rain," from PIE root *meigh- "to urinate." Missel-bird "missel thrush" is attested from 1620s.

misshapen (adj.)

"having a bad or ugly shape, crippled, deformed, monstrous," also "degraded, perverted," late 14c., from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + old alternative past participle of shape (v.). The verb misshape (1520s) is perhaps a back-formation.

missy (n.)

"young girl," 1670s, playful or diminutive form of miss (n.2), at first chiefly among servants.

missile (n.)

"thing thrown or discharged as a weapon for the purpose of hitting something," 1650s, from missile (adj.), 1610s, "capable of being thrown," chiefly in phrase missile weapon, from French missile and directly from Latin missilis "that may be thrown or hurled" (also, in plural, as a noun, "weapons that can be thrown, darts, javelins"), from missus "a throwing, hurling," past participle of mittere "to release, let go; send, throw" (see mission). Sense of "self-propelled rocket or bomb" is first recorded 1738; in reference to modern rocket-propelled, remote-guidance projectiles by 1945.

mission (n.)

1590s, "a sending abroad" (as an agent), originally of Jesuits, from Latin missionem (nominative missio) "act of sending, a dispatching; a release, a setting at liberty; discharge from service, dismissal," noun of action from past-participle stem of mittere "to release, let go; send, throw," which de Vaan traces to a PIE *m(e)ith- "to exchange, remove," also source of Sanskrit methete, mimetha "to become hostile, quarrel," Gothic in-maidjan "to change;" he writes, "From original 'exchange', the meaning developed to 'give, bestow' ... and 'let go, send'."

Meaning "an organized effort for the spread of religion or for enlightenment of a community" is by 1640s; that of "a missionary post or station" is by 1769. The diplomatic sense of "body of persons sent to a foreign land on commercial or political business" is from 1620s; in American English, sometimes "a foreign legation or embassy, the office of a foreign envoy" (1805).

General sense of "that for which one is sent or commissioned" is from 1670s; meaning "that for which a person or thing is destined" (as in man on a mission, one's mission in life) is by 1805. Meaning "dispatch of an aircraft on a military operation" (by 1929, American English) was extended to spacecraft flights (1962), hence, mission control "team on the ground responsible for directing a spacecraft and its crew" (1964). As a style of furniture, said to be imitative of furniture in the buildings of original Spanish missions to western North America, it is attested from 1900.

missionary (adj.)

"relating to or pertaining to a mission, sent on a mission," especially a Christian mission, 1640s, from Modern Latin missionarius "pertaining to a mission," from Latin missionem (see mission).

missionary (n.)

"one who is sent on a mission, person sent by ecclesiastical authority to labor for the propagation of the faith in a place where it has no indigenous organization," 1650s, from missionary (adj.).

The phrase missionary position for "sexual intercourse arrangement in which the couple lies face to face with the woman underneath the man" is attested by 1963, said to have been coined by Kinsey (1948), who identified its origin in work done by Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in Melanesia in the 1920s; allegedly from the term used by South Pacific peoples to describe what Christian missionaries promoted to replace their local variations. By the late 1960s it became the general term for this type of sex, formerly also was known as the English-American position.

Mississippi

originally the name of the river, from the French rendering of an Algonquian name (French missionaries first penetrated the river valley in its upper reaches) meaning "big river;" compare Ojibwa mshi- "big," ziibi "river." Organized as a U.S. territory 1798; admitted as a state 1817. Related: Mississippian (by 1775; as a geological period, by 1891).

missive (n.)

by c. 1500, "a written message sent by superior authority; a commandment," noun use of the adjective (mid-15c.) meaning "sent by superior authority" (in phrase lettres missives) from Medieval Latin missivus "for sending, sent," especially in littera missiva "letters sent," from Latin missus, past participle of mittere "to send" (see mission).

Missouri

originally a name for a group of native peoples among Chiwere (Siouan) tribes, from an Algonquian word recorded c. 1700, said to mean literally "people of the big canoes." Formed as a U.S. territory in 1812 (out of the whole of the Louisiana Purchase not admitted that year as the state of Louisiana); admitted as a state 1821.

In U.S. history, the Missouri Compromise (1820) in Congress admitted Missouri as a slave state, along with Maine as a free one, but set a line westward from the main southern boundary of Missouri above which no new states would be admitted with slavery. It has been the Show-Me State since at least 1902; the expression I'm from Missouri, you'll have to show me is attested from at least c. 1880. Related: Missourian.

misspeak (v.)

also mis-speak, late 14c., misspeken, "say amiss," also "speak insultingly (of)," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + speak (v.). From 1590s as "pronounce wrongly;" by 1890 as "speak otherwise than according to one's intentions." Related: Misspeaking; misspoken. Old English missprecan meant "to grumble, murmur;" In Middle English, misispeken "to say sinful things" is from early 13c.

misspell (v.)

also mis-spell, "spell incorrectly," 1650s, from mis- (1) + spell (v.1). Related: Misspelled; misspelling.

misspelling (n.)

"a false or incorrect spelling," 1690s, verbal noun from misspell.

misspend (v.)

also mis-spend, "to spend amiss or wastefully, use improperly, make a bad or useless expenditure of," late 14c.; see mis- (1) + spend. Related: Misspent (as an adjective, "badly or uselessly employed," since mid-15c. frequently modifying youth); misspending.

misstatement (n.)

"a wrong statement, an erroneous account or relation," 1783, from misstate + -ment or else from mis- + statement.

misstate (v.)

also mis-state, "state wrongly, make an erroneous representation of," 1640s, from mis- (1) + state (v.). Related: Misstated; misstating.

misstep (v.)

also mis-step, c. 1300, missteppen, "make a false step, stumble," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + step (v.). Figurative sense by c. 1500. The noun in the figurative sense of "faux pas" is recorded by c. 1800; the literal sense "a false step, a stumble" is by 1837.

missus (n.)

also missis, a colloquial contraction of mistress; as the oral form of Mrs., from 1790; the missus "the wife" is attested by 1833.

mist (n.)

"weather condition consisting of a cloud resting upon the ground, fog," also "precipitation consisting of fine droplets of water, much smaller than rain," Old English mist (earliest in compounds, such as misthleoðu "misty cliffs," wælmist "mist of death"), from Proto-Germanic *mikhstaz (source also of Middle Low German mist, Dutch mist, Icelandic mistur, Norwegian and Swedish mist), perhaps from PIE *meigh- "to urinate." Greek omikhle "fog;" Old Church Slavonic migla "fog;" Sanskrit mih- "fog, mist," megha "cloud" sometimes are said to be cognates in this secondary sense, but Beekes finds these rather more likely to be from a separate IE root meaning "fog."

Also in Old English in reference to dimness of the eyes or eyesight, either by illness or tears, and in a figurative sense of "something that darkens and obscures mental vision." Meaning "haze of dust in the air producing obscurity of things seen at a distance" is by 1785.

mist (v.)

Old English mistian "to become misty, to be or grow misty;" see mist (n.). Meaning "cover with or as with mist" is from early 15c. Related: Misted; misting.