Where does “mule” come from?

mule (French) comes from Middle Dutch mule, from Old Dutch mūla, from Proto-Germanic mūlō, from Proto-Germanic mūlô, from Proto-Indo-European mū- — fly, mosquito; fly, midge; lips, muzzle.

mule (French): mule animal

Definitions

  1. mule animal

Ancestry of “mule”, step by step

mule traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Middle Dutch mule

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Dutchmule—
2Old Dutchmūla—
3Proto-Germanicmūlōmuzzle
4Proto-Germanicmūlômuzzle
5Proto-Indo-Europeanmū-fly, mosquito; fly, midge; lips, muzzle

via Old French mule

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchmuleshe-mule
2Latinmūlafemale mule, she-mule
3Latin-asuffixed to the roots of verbs, forms agent...
4Proto-Italic-āForms masculine agent nouns from prefixed or compounded bases
5Proto-Indo-European-éh₂—

Words derived from “mule”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European mū- →Every word from Proto-Germanic mūlô →Every word from Proto-Germanic mūlō →