mis-
prefixEtymology
From Middle English mys-, mis-, from Old English mis- (“mis-”), from Proto-West Germanic *missa-, from Proto-Germanic *missa- (“wrongly, badly, mis-”), from the adjective *missaz (whence also miss), from Proto-Indo-European *mitˢtós (“mutual, reciprocal”), from *meyt(h₂)- (“to replace, switch, exchange, swap”), extended from the root *mey- (“to change”). Cognate with Scots mis- (“mis-”), Dutch mis- (“mis-”), German miss-, mis- (“mis-”), Danish mis- (“mis-”), Swedish miss- (“mis-”), Icelandic mis- (“mis-”). Compare also French més-, mé- (“mis-”), from Old French mes- (“mis-”), from Frankish *mis-, *missa- (“mis-”), from the same Proto-Germanic source above.
Morpheme Bad or wrong; badly or wrongly.
- misbehaviour; misspelling; to misbehave
Morpheme Incorrect; incorrectly.
- misidentification; to misidentify
Morpheme Failed; in a manner resulting in failure (to do, complete or achieve something).
- miscarriage (failed carriage of a pregnancy to term), to miscarry, to misacknowledge
Morpheme Unintentional, accidental, mistaken; unintentionally, accidentally, mistakenly.
- Yes, I did "Buy now", but it was a misclick.
- I misclicked something on my computer, and now everything is in Hungarian!
Morpheme False, falsely.
- misaccusation, to misaccuse
- Related terms
- miso-