Where does “miss” come from?

Mistress comes from Old English missan, derived from Proto-Indo-European mey-, related to Latin magister and magnus meaning great or large.

miss (English): To fail to hit; To fail to achieve or attain; To...

Definitions

  1. To fail to hit; To fail to achieve or attain; To...

Ancestry of “miss”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishmissen—
2Old Englishmissanto miss; to not notice something
3Proto-Germanicmissijanąto miss, go wrong, fail
4Proto-Indo-Europeanmēyt-—
5Proto-Indo-Europeanmēy-soft, tender, dear

Words derived from “miss”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European mēy- →