Where does “mile” come from?
Mile comes from Middle English mile, from Latin milium, from Latin mille meaning "thousand," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European mey-.
mile (English): The international mile: a unit of length...
Definitions
- The international mile: a unit of length...
Ancestry of “mile”, step by step
mile traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English myle
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | myle | mile; The time it takes to walk a mile;... |
| 2 | Old English | mīl | millet; mile |
| 3 | Latin | mīlia | — |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | mīliju | mile |
| 5 | Latin | Mīlle | thousand; 1000 |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | smīɣeslī | thousand |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | smih₂ǵʰéslih₂ | — |
via Macedonian Ми́ле
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Macedonian | Ми́ле | — |