mirror

English

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

A vase reflected in a mirror.

Alternative forms

• mirrour

Etymology

From Middle English mirour, from Old French mireor, from mirer, to look at, from Latin mīror (“wonder at”), from mīrus (“wonderful”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈmɪɹ.ə/, X-SAMPA: /'mIr@/
• (US) IPA: /ˈmiɹ.ɚ/, /ˈmɪɹ.ɚ/, /ˈmiɚ/, X-SAMPA: /'mIr@`/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪrə(r), -iə(r)
• (US, Canada) Homophone: mere (some dialects)

Noun

mirror (plural mirrors)

1. A smooth surface, usually made of glass with reflective material painted on the underside, that reflects light so as to give an image of what is in front of it.

   I had a look in the mirror to see if the blood had come off my face.

   We could see the lorry in the mirror, so decided to change lanes.

2. (figuratively) an object, person, or event that reflects or gives a picture of another.

   His story is a mirror into the life of orphans growing up.

   • Spenser

     O goddess, heavenly bright, / Mirror of grace and majesty divine.

3. (computing) An exact copy of a data set, especially a website.

   Although the content had been deleted from his blog, it was still found on some mirrors.

Synonyms

• (reflecting surface): glass (old-fashioned), looking glass (old-fashioned)

Derived terms

Terms derived from mirror (noun)

do with mirrors half-silvered mirror magic mirror

mirror image one-way mirror rear-view mirror

two-way mirror

Translations

smooth reflecting surface

• Afrikaans: spieël (af)
• Albanian: pasqyrë (sq) f
• Amharic: መስታዎት (am) (mästawot)
• Arabic: مرآة (ar) (mirʾāa) f

  Egyptian Arabic: مراية (meraaya) f

• Armenian: հայելի (hy) (hayeli)
• Asturian: espeyu (ast) m
• Azeri: güzgü (az)
• Baluchi: آدینک (adí̃k)
• Bashkir: көҙгө (köźgö)
• Basque: ispilu (eu)
• Belarusian: люстэрка (be) (ljustérka) n, люстра (be) (ljústra) n
• Bengali: আয়না (bn) (aẏna)
• Bulgarian: огледало (bg) (ogledálo) n
• Burmese: ကြေးမုံ (my) (kye׃mon), မှန် (my) (hman)
• Catalan: mirall (ca) m, espill (ca) m
• Chechen: куьзга (küzga)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鏡子 (cmn), 镜子 (cmn) (jìngzi)

  Min Nan: 鏡 (nan) (kiàⁿ), 目鏡 (nan) (ba̍k-kiàⁿ)

• Chuvash: тӗкӗр (tĕkĕr)
• Crimean Tatar: küzgü (crh)
• Czech: zrcadlo (cs) n, zrcátko (cs) n
• Danish: spejl (da) n
• Dutch: spiegel (nl)
• Esperanto: spegulo (eo)
• Finnish: peili (fi)
• French: glace (fr) f, miroir (fr) m
• Gagauz: ayna
• Galician: espello (gl) m
• Georgian: სარკე (ka) (sarke)
• German: Spiegel (de) m
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌰 (skuggwa) m
• Greek: καθρέφτης (el) (kathréftis) m
• Hebrew: מַרְאָה (he) (mar'á) f
• Hindi: दर्पण (hi) (darpaṇ) m, शीशा (hi) (śīśa) m, आईना (hi) (ā'īnā) m
• Hungarian: tükör (hu)
• Icelandic: spegill (is) m
• Ido: spegulo (io)
• Indonesian: cermin (id)
• Irish: scáthán (ga) m
• Italian: specchio (it) m
• Japanese: 鏡 (ja) (かがみ, kagami)
• Jèrriais: mitheux m
• Kalmyk: толь (tol')
• Karachay-Balkar: кюзгю (küzgü)
• Kazakh: айна (kk) (ayna)
• Khakas: кӧріндес (köríndes)
• Khmer: កញ្ចក់ (km) (kanh jork)
• Korean: 거울 (ko) (geoul)
• Kumyk: гюзгю (güzgü)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ئاوێنه‌ (ckb)

• Kyrgyz: күзгү (ky) (küzgü)

• Lao: ແວ່ນ (lo) (vǣn)
• Latin: speculum (la) n
• Latvian: spogulis (lv)
• Lithuanian: veidrodis (lt)
• Luxembourgish: Spigel (lb) m
• Macedonian: огледало (mk) (oglédalo) n, ѕрцало (mk) (dz'rcalo) n (archaic or dialectical)
• Malay: cermin (ms)
• Maltese: mera (mt) f
• Marathi: आरसा (mr) (ārsā)
• Mongolian: толь (mn) (tol')
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: speil (nb) n

  Nynorsk: spegel (nn) m

• Occitan: miralh (oc) m, espill (oc) m
• Old Church Slavonic: зрьцало (zrĭcalo) n
• Persian: آیینه (fa) (âyine)
• Polish: lustro (pl) n, zwierciadło (pl) n
• Portuguese: espelho (pt) m
• Quechua: rirpu (qu)
• Romanian: oglindă (ro) f
• Romansch: spievel (rm) m
• Russian: зеркало (ru) (zérkalo) n, (archaic) зерцало (ru) (zercálo) n
• Sanskrit: दर्पण (sa) (darpaṇa) m
• Scottish Gaelic: sgàthan (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: огледало (sh) n, зрцало (sh) n

  Roman: ogledalo (sh) n, zrcalo (sh) n

• Shor: кÿзеген (küzegen)
• Sicilian: specchiu (scn) m
• Slovak: zrkadlo (sk) n, zrkadielko (sk) n
• Slovene: ogledalo (sl) n
• Southern Altai: кӱскӱ (küskü), кӧрӱнгӱш (körüngüş)
• Spanish: espejo (es) m
• Swahili: kioo (sw), (noun 7/8) vioo (sw) pl
• Swedish: spegel (sv)
• Tagalog: tagapaglarawan (tl), salamin (tl)
• Tajik: оина (tg) (oina)
• Tatar: көзге (tt) (közge)
• Telugu: అద్దము (te) (addamu)
• Thai: กระจก (th) (grà-jòk)
• Turkish: ayna (tr), gözgü (tr)
• Turkmen: aýna (tk)
• Tuvan: көрүнчүк (körünçük)
• Ukrainian: дзеркало (uk) (dzérkalo) n
• Urdu: آئینہ (ur) (ā'īnā) m, شیشہ (ur) (śīśa) m, درپن (ur) (darpan) m
• Uzbek: koʻzgu (uz), oyna (uz)
• Venetian: specio m
• Vietnamese: gương (vi)
• Volapük: lok (vo), (diminutive) lokil (vo)
• Yakut: сиэркилэ (sierkile)
• Yiddish: שפּיגל (yi) (shpigl) m

computing: exact copy of a data set

• Catalan: còpia (ca) f
• Finnish: peili (fi), peilikopio (fi), kopio (fi)
• French: copie (fr) f
• German: Kopie (de) f
• Greek: αναπαράσταση (el) (anaparástasi) f, αντίγραφο (el) (antígrafo) n
• Luxembourgish: Kopie (lb) f
• Macedonian: дупликат (mk) (duplikát) m

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: speil (nb) n

  Nynorsk: spegel (nn) m

• Portuguese: cópia (pt) f
• Swahili: kio (sw)
• Thai: กระจก (th) (grajohk)

Verb

mirror (third-person singular simple present mirrors, present participle mirroring, simple past and past participle mirrored)

1. (transitive) Of an event, activity, behaviour, etc, to be identical to, to be a copy of.

   He tried to mirror Elvis's life. He copied his fashion and his mannerisms, and even went to live in Graceland.

2. (computing, transitive) To create something identical to (a web site, etc.).
3. To reflect.

Translations

of an event, activity, behaviour.. to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect

• Catalan: duplicar (ca), copiar (ca)
• Icelandic: spegla (is)
• Macedonian: одразува (mk) (odrázuva), отсликува (mk) (otslíkuva)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: speile (no)

• Portuguese: espelhar (pt)
• Swahili: kio (sw)

See also

• cheval glass
• looking glass