Mis- | Meaning Of Prefix Mis- By Etymonline

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Origin and history of mis-

mis-(1)

prefix of Germanic origin affixed to nouns and verbs and meaning "bad, wrong," from Old English mis-, from Proto-Germanic *missa- "divergent, astray" (source also of Old Frisian and Old Saxon mis-, Middle Dutch misse-, Old High German missa-, German miß-, Old Norse mis-, Gothic missa-), perhaps literally "in a changed manner," and with a root sense of "difference, change" (compare Gothic misso "mutually"), and thus possibly from PIE *mit-to-, from root *mei- (1) "to change."

Productive as word-forming element in Old English (as in mislæran "to give bad advice, teach amiss"). In 14c.-16c. in a few verbs its sense began to be felt as "unfavorably," and it came to be used as an intensive prefix with words already expressing negative feeling (as in misdoubt). Practically a separate word in Old and early Middle English (and often written as such). Old English also had an adjective (mislic "diverse, unlike, various") and an adverb (mislice "in various directions, wrongly, astray") derived from it, corresponding to German misslich (adj.). It has become confused with mis- (2).

mis-(2)

word-forming element of Latin origin (in mischief, miscreant, misadventure, misnomer, etc.), from Old French mes- "bad, badly, wrong, wrongly," from Vulgar Latin *minus-, from Latin minus "less" (from suffixed form of PIE root *mei- (2) "small"), which was not used as a prefix in Latin but in the Romanic languages was affixed to words as a depreciative or negative element. The form in French perhaps was influenced in Old French by *miss-, the Frankish (Germanic) form of mis- (1).

Entries linking to mis-

misadventure(n.)

"an unfortunate experience, a bad experience, ill-luck, calamity," c. 1300, misaventure, from Old French mesaventure (12c.) "accident, mishap," from mesavenir "to turn out badly;" see mis- (2) + adventure (n.) in the older sense of "that which happens by chance, fortune, luck." The spelling with -d- became regular after c. 1600.

mischief(n.)

c. 1300, "evil condition, misfortune; hardship, need, want; wickedness, wrongdoing, evil," from Old French meschief "misfortune, harm, trouble; annoyance, vexation" (12c., Modern French méchef), verbal noun from meschever "come or bring to grief, be unfortunate" (opposite of achieve), from mes- "badly" (see mis- (2)) + chever "happen, come to a head," from Vulgar Latin *capare "head," from Latin caput "head" (from PIE root *kaput- "head").

Meaning "harm or evil considered as the work of some agent or due to some cause" is from late 15c. Sense of "playful malice" is recorded by 1784. The meaning has softened with time; in Middle English to be full of mischief was to be miserable; to make mischief was "to result in misery."

Mischief Night in 19c. England was the eve of May Day and of Nov. 5, both major holidays, and perhaps the original point was pilfering for the next day's celebration and bonfire; but in Yorkshire, Scotland, and Ireland the night was Halloween. The useful Middle English verb mischieve (early 14c.), used by Skelton and Gavin Douglas, has, for some reason, fallen from currency.

• miscreant
• misdoubt
• misnomer
• mesalliance
• misaligned
• misalignment
• misalliance
• misapplication
• misapply
• misapprehend
• misapprehension
• misappropriate
• misappropriation
• misascription
• misattribution
• misbecome
• misbefall
• misbegotten
• See All Related Words (129)

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More to explore

misdoubt1530s, "to have doubts (of the reality of), to suspect, to regard (the truth or reality of) with suspicion," from mis- (1) "badly, wrongly" + doubt (v.). Meaning "to fear or suspect (the existence of something evil) is from 1560s. Intransitive sense of "entertain doubt" is from 1misnomermid-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 miscarryastray;" mid-14c., "come to harm; come to naught, perish;" of persons, "to die," of objects, "to be lost or destroyed," from mis...disasterdésastre (1560s), from Italian disastro, literally "ill-starred," from dis-, here merely pejorative, equivalent to English mis...missthe term of honour to a young girl" [Johnson], originally (17c.) a shortened form of mistress (compare Mrs., pronounced mis-ez...feastThe spelling -ea- was used in Middle English to represent the sound we mis-call "long e."...bisonThe name also was applied 1690s to the North American species commonly mis-called a buffalo, which formerly ranged as far...constitutionmid-14c., constitucioun, "law, regulation, edict; body of rules, customs, or laws," from Old French constitucion (12c.) "constitution, establishment," and directly from Latin constitutionem (nominative constitutio) "act of settling, settled condition, anything arranged or settlediconalso ikon, 1570s, "image, figure, picture," also "statue," from Late Latin icon, from Greek eikon "likeness, image, portrait; image in a mirror; a semblance, phantom image;" in philosophy, "an image in the mind," related to eikenai "be like, look like," which is of uncertain orighumilityearly 14c., "quality of being humble," from Old French umelite "humility, modesty, sweetness" (Modern French humilité), from Latin humilitatem (nominative humilitas) "lowness, small stature; insignificance; baseness, littleness of mind," in Church Latin "meekness," from humilis "

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‘cite’Page URL:https://www.etymonline.com/word/mis-CopyHTML Link:<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/mis-">Etymology of mis- by etymonline</a>CopyAPA Style:Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of mis-. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved December 25, 2025, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/mis-CopyChicago Style:Harper Douglas, "Etymology of mis-," Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed December 25, 2025, https://www.etymonline.com/word/mis-.CopyMLA Style:Harper, Douglas. "Etymology of mis-." Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/mis-. Accessed 25 December, 2025.CopyIEEE Style:D. Harper. "Etymology of mis-." Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/mis- (accessed December 25, 2025).CopyRemove AdsAdvertisement

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TrendingDictionary entries near mis-

• mirth
• mirthful
• mirthless
• miry
• miryachit
• mis-
• misadventure
• misaligned
• misalignment
• misalliance
• misandry

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