mire

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mire"

English

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪə/
- Audio (Southern England): (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪɚ/, /ˈmaɪɹ/
Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

English Wikipedia has an article on:

mire

Wikipedia

From Middle English mire, a borrowing from Old Norse mýrr, from Proto-Germanic *miuzijō, whence also Swedish myr, Norwegian myr, Icelandic mýri, Dutch *mier (in placenames, for example Mierlo). Related to Proto-Germanic *meusą, whence Old English mēos, and Proto-Germanic *musą, whence Old English mos (English moss).

Noun

mire (countable and uncountable, plural mires)

Deep mud; moist, spongy earth.
- 1810, Jack and Jill, and old Dame Gill, York: J. Kendrew, page 12:
  Sow ran and squall'd,
  While Jack he bawl'd,
  And Jill join'd in the choir,
  Dog Ball being near,
  Bit sow by the ear,
  And threw Jack into the mire.
- 1872, Edward Everett Hale, Old and New, page 350:
  His laden feet sand and stuck in mire; he was bedaubed with the blue-gray clay from head to foot; but he had escaped the deadly river!
A bog or fen; (in wetland science, specifically) a peatland which is actively forming peat, such as an active bog or fen.
Synonyms: peatland, quag

Hypernym: wetland

Hyponyms: bog, fen
- 2015 November 15, Lothar Mueller, Askhad K. Sheudshen, Frank Eulenstein, Novel Methods for Monitoring and Managing Land and Water Resources in Siberia, Springer, →ISBN, page 79:
  Glagolev […] measured CH₄ emission from a mire in West Siberia using a static chamber method. Similar methods had been developed and tested by Nakano et al. (2006), Fig. 1.
An undesirable situation; a predicament.
- 2017 April 2, Dafydd Pritchard, “Swansea City 0-0 Middlesbrough”, in BBC Sport‎^[2], London:
  Swansea seemed to be pulling clear of trouble with five wins in their first eight games following head coach Paul Clement's appointment, but two successive defeats had dragged the Swans back into the mire.

Derived terms

Translations

deep mud — see also mud,‎ silt

Bulgarian: кал (bg) f (kal), тиня (bg) f (tinja)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 污泥 (zh) (wūní)
Czech: močál (cs) m, bažina (cs) f, bahno (cs) n
Dutch: moeras (nl) n
Esperanto: koto (eo)
Finnish: suo (fi), lieju (fi), muta (fi)
French: fange (fr) f, bourbier (fr) m
Galician: ludro (gl) m, untullo m, esteiro (gl) m, bulleiro (gl) m
German: Morast (de) m, Schlamm (de) m, Matsch (de) m
Greek: βούρκος (el) m (voúrkos)
Ancient Greek: βόρβορος m (bórboros)
Hindi: कीचड़ (hi) m (kīcaṛ)
Irish: láib f, puiteach m, lábán m
Italian: fango (it) m, mota (it) f, limo (it) m
Khmer: ផុង (km) (phong)
Latin: lutum n
Latvian: muklājs (lv) m, purvājs m, staignums m
Māori: kene
Navajo: hashtłʼish
Norwegian:
Bokmål: myr m or f

Nynorsk: myr f
Occitan: fanga (oc), baldra (oc) f, fangàs m, fangalhàs m, baldrièr m, iga f, maresca f, sanhàs m
Persian: گلزار (fa) (gelzâr)
Plautdietsch: Mautsch m, Schlaum m
Polish: bagno (pl) n
Portuguese: lama (pt) f, lodo (pt) m, barro (pt) m
Russian: топь (ru) f (topʹ), тряси́на (ru) f (trjasína)
Sanskrit: पङ्क (sa) m (paṅka)
Scottish Gaelic: clàbar m
Spanish: barrizal m, lodazal (es) m, lamedal (es) m, fangal m, fanguero m
Turkish: batak (tr)
Ottoman Turkish: چامور (çamur) (deep mud); باتاق (batak) (peatland)
Zazaki: lınce

bog — see bog

an undesirable situation — see also quagmire

Czech: marast m, šlamastyka (cs) f
Greek: λάσπη (el) f (láspi), βούρκος (el) m (voúrkos), τέλμα (el) n (télma), βόρβορος (el) m (vórvoros)
Occitan: malpàs, malparada f, malabosena f, malora f
Persian: باتلاق (fa) (bâtlâq)
Turkish: batak (tr), bataklık (tr)

Verb

mire (third-person singular simple present mires, present participle miring, simple past and past participle mired)

(transitive) To cause or permit to become stuck in mud; to plunge or fix in mud.
Synonyms: bemire, enmire

to mire a horse or wagon
(intransitive) To sink into mud.
(transitive, figurative) To weigh down.
(intransitive) To soil with mud or foul matter.
Synonym: bemire
- 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
  Why had I not with charitable hand
  Took up a beggar’s issue at my gates,
  Who smirch’d thus and mired with infamy,
  I might have said ‘No part of it is mine;
  This shame derives itself from unknown loins’?

Derived terms

unmired

Translations

to plunge or fix in mud

German: feststecken (de)
Spanish: empantanar (es)
Turkish: çamura batırmak

to sink into mud

Bulgarian: окалям (okaljam)
Czech: zapadnout do bláta, zabřednout do bahna
French: embourber (fr), enliser (fr)
German: einsinken (de)
Māori: tapoko
Occitan: fangassejar, fanguejar, s'enfangar, baudracar, baldracar, baldrejar, gaulhassar
Russian: погрязнуть (ru) pf (pogrjaznutʹ)
Spanish: empantanarse (es)
Turkish: çamura batmak

figurative

Spanish: envolver (es), empantanar (es), atollar (es)

Etymology 2

From Middle English mire, myre, from Old English *mīere, from Proto-West Germanic *miurijā, from Proto-Germanic *miurijǭ (“ant”), from Proto-Indo-European *morwís (“ant”).

Cognates

Cognate with North Frisian miir (“ant”), Dutch mier (“ant”), Low German Miere (“ant”), Danish myre (“ant”), Faroese meyra (“ant”), Icelandic and Norwegian Bokmål maur (“ant”), Norwegian Nynorsk maur, møvver (“ant”), Swedish myra (“ant”), Crimean Gothic miera (“ant”), Finnish muurahainen (“ant”), Ingrian muurahain (“ant”); also Breton merien (“ants”), Cornish moryon (“ants”), Old Irish moirb (“ant”), Welsh mŷr (“ant”), Latin formīca, furmīca (“ant”), Greek μερμήγκι (mermígki), μυρμήγκι (myrmígki, “ant”), Albanian morr (“louse; aphid”), Belarusian мура́шка (muráška, “ant”), Bulgarian мрав (mrav), мра́вка (mrávka, “ant”), Czech brabenec, mravenec (“ant”), Kashubian marwa, mrówka (“ant”), Lower Sorbian mroja (“ant”), Macedonian мра́ва (mráva), мра́вка (mrávka, “ant”), Pannonian Rusyn брамушка (bramuška), ґрамушка (gramuška, “ant”), Polish mrówka (“ant”), Russian мураве́й (muravéj, “ant”), Serbo-Croatian мрав, mrav (“ant”), Slovak mravec (“ant”), Slovene mravlja (“ant”), Ukrainian мура́ха (muráxa, “ant”), Upper Sorbian mrowja (“ant”), Armenian մրջյուն (mrǰyun, “ant”), Baluchi مور (mor, “ant”), Central Kurdish مێروو (mêrû), مێروولە (mêrûle, “ant”), Northern Kurdish mûrî (“ant”), Ossetian мӕлдзыг (mælʒyg, “ant”), Persian مور (mōr / mur, “ant”), مورچه (mōrča / murče, “ant; hole; trench”), Sanskrit वम्र (vamra, “ant”).

Noun

mire (plural mires)

(rare or obsolete) An ant.
- 1866, The Gardener's Monthly and Horticultural Advertiser Devoted, page 149:
  "Having been seriously interrupted by small brown ants or mires working in my cutting bench, digging holes down the side of my cuttings, thereby arresting the process of rooting. […] "
- 1915, Daniel T. Trombley, Batiste of Isle La Motte, page 24:
  Wen I lay down behine dat log I plunk masef right een one dem aunty mire nest an bout 10 million of dem leetle devil begin to heat me.
- 1939, original c. 1300, Publications - Volume 103; Volume 105, page 267:
  The ant figures in the Bestiary, which tells us that the 'mire' is mighty; toils much in summer and in soft weather; stores wood and seed, corn and grass; in winter she is not harmed: she likes wheat, but shuns barley […]

Related terms

Anagrams

IMer, Meir, Meri, Remi, emir, meri, reim, riem, rime

Asturian

Verb

mire

first/third-person singular present subjunctive of mirar

Esperanto

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)mey-der.

Proto-Indo-European *sméyros

Proto-Italic *smeiros

Latin mīrus

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -or

Latin mīror

Italian mirarebor.

Esperanto miri

Proto-Italic *-ēd

Old Latin -ēd

Latin -ebor.

Russian -е (-e)influ.

▲

Polish -einflu.

▲

Czech -einflu.

Esperanto -e

Esperanto mire

From miri + -e.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmire/
Rhymes: -ire
Syllabification: mi‧re

Adverb

mire

in surprise, in awe, in an amazed way

French

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /miʁ/
Audio (France (Toulouse)): (file)
Audio (France (Somain)): (file)
Homophones: mir, myrrhe, mirent

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Italian mira, from Latin mīrō (“to wonder at”).

Noun

mire f (plural mires)

(weaponry) aim (action of aiming) [from 1562]
Synonym: visée
foresight (of rifle) [from 1611]
Synonym: guidon
(literal, figurative) target [from early 1600s]
Synonyms: but, cible
(television) test pattern
(surveying) rod (measuring tool)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old French mire, mirie, a semi-learned borrowing from Latin medicus.

Noun

mire m (plural mires, feminine miresse)

(historical) medieval physician
Hypernym: (more generally) médecin (“doctor”)

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

mire

inflection of mirer:
1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

émir, Remi, Rémi, rime, rimé

Galician

Verb

mire

inflection of mirar:
1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
2. third-person singular imperative

Hungarian

Etymology

mi (“what”) +‎ -re (sublative case suffix)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈmirɛ]
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: mi‧re
Rhymes: -rɛ

Pronoun

mire

sublative singular of mi
Mire gondolsz? ― What are you thinking about?

Pronoun

mire

for what (purpose)?
Mire jó ez? ― What is it for?

Adverb

mire (not comparable)

whereupon (after which, in consequence)
Megszidtam, mire sírva fakadt. ― I scolded her, whereupon she started to cry.
by the time, when
Mire hazaértem, a vendégek már elmentek. ― By the time I got home, the guests had left.

Related terms

amire

Irish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmʲɪɾʲə/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish mire (“madness, frenzy, infatuation”).

Noun

mire f (genitive singular mire)

Declension

Declension of mire (fourth declension, no plural)

bare forms
	singular
nominative	mire
vocative	a mhire
genitive	mire
dative	mire

forms with the definite article
	singular
nominative	an mhire
genitive	na mire
dative	leis an mire don mhire

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

mire

inflection of mear:
1. genitive feminine singular
2. comparative degree

Mutation

Mutated forms of *mire*
radical	lenition	eclipsis
mire	mhire	not applicable

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “mire”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “mire”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959), “mire”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
“mire”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026

Italian

Noun

mire f

plural of mira

Anagrams

ermi, meri, remi, rime

Ladin

Verb

mire

inflection of mirer:
1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
2. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive

Latin

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)mey-der.

Proto-Indo-European *sméyros

Proto-Italic *smeiros

Latin mīrus

Latin -ē

Latin mīrē

From mīrus + -ē.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmiː.reː]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmiː.re]

Adverb

mīrē (not comparable)

wondrously, marvelously, amazingly
strangely, peculiarly, uncommonly, exceedingly
- 68 BCE – 44 BCE, Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum 8.1.2:
  mire quam illius loci non modo usus sed etiam cogitatio delectat.
  It is a wonder how, not only the use of that place, but also the very thought of it delights me.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmiː.rɛ]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmiː.re]

Participle

mīre

vocative masculine singular of mīrus

References

“mire”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“mire”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old Norse mýrr, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *miuzijō.

Alternative forms

myer, myre, myrre
mure, muir, muire, muyre (especially Southwest Midland)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmiːr(ə)/
(West Midland) IPA^(key): /ˈmyːr(ə)/

Noun

mire (plural mires)

Marshy or swampy land; a mire or peat.
A region of marshy or swampy land.
A muddy or dirt-covered region.
(figuratively) Iniquity, sinfulness; immoral behaviour.
(rare) A quagmire or conundrum.
(rare) A puddle or pond; a watery hollow.

Derived terms

myren

Descendants

English: mire (“swamp”)
Scots: mire

References

“mīre, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 20 August 2018.

Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English *mȳre, *mīere, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *miurijǭ.

Alternative forms

myre

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmiːr(ə)/

Noun

mire

ant

Derived terms

pissemyre

Descendants

English: mire (“ant”) (obsolete)

References

“mīre, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 20 July 2018.

Old English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmiː.re/

Noun

mīre f

alternative spelling of mīere

Declension

Weak n-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	mīre	mīran
accusative	mīran	mīran
genitive	mīran	mīrena
dative	mīran	mīrum

Portuguese

Verb

mire

inflection of mirar:
1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
2. third-person singular imperative

Prasuni

Etymology

From Proto-Nuristani, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *mŕ̥ts (“clay, earth”), from Proto-Indo-European *meld-.

Noun

mire (Pronz)^[1]

clay

References

^ Strand, Richard F. (2016), “mire”, in Nûristânî Etymological Lexicon‎^[1]

Romanian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin mīles (“soldier”). The original sense of soldier is still attested in some Christmas carols.^[1] The semantic evolution originates in Roman law, which granted soldiers the right to marry only upon their release from service as veterans (see also: bătrân). Consequently, once married, a man was no longer a miles. It is less likely that the sense of bridegroom arose as a semantic calque of the rare word voină (“husband”), from Slavic воинъ (voinŭ, “warrior”).

Other improbable etymologies proposed include: Turkish amir (“chief”), Cuman mir ("prince"), a Vulgar Latin *mīrex, from Ancient Greek μεῖραξ (meîrax, “adolescent; boy”) or an old Indo-European term.^[2]

Replaced mărit, which only survived in some regional dialects.

Pronunciation

Audio: (file)

Noun

mire m (plural miri, feminine equivalent mireasă)

bridegroom
(obsolete) soldier
Synonym: soldat

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	mire	mirele	miri	mirii
genitive-dative	mire	mirelui	miri	mirilor
vocative	mire		mirilor

Derived terms

mireasă

References

^ Boerescu, Pârvu. Elementele de Substrat (Autohtone) ale Limbii Române - Compendiu. București: Editura Academiei Române, 2018. Page 159
^ “mire”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish mire (“madness, frenzy, infatuation”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mʲiɾʲə/

Noun

mire f (genitive singular mire, plural mirean)

merriment, mirth, frolic

Derived terms

gille-mirein

Mutation

Mutation of *mire*
radical	lenition
mire	mhire

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

Edward Dwelly (1911), “mire”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “mire”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Serbo-Croatian

Verb

mire (Cyrillic spelling мире)

third-person plural present of miriti

Spanish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmiɾe/ [ˈmi.ɾe]
Rhymes: -iɾe
Syllabification: mi‧re

Verb

mire

inflection of mirar:
1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
2. third-person singular imperative

[NEL-1] Strand, Richard F. (2016), “mire”, in Nûristânî Etymological Lexicon‎^[1]

[2] Boerescu, Pârvu. Elementele de Substrat (Autohtone) ale Limbii Române - Compendiu. București: Editura Academiei Române, 2018. Page 159

[3] “mire”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

[1]

[1]

[2]

case	suffix	who?	what?	this	that	he/she (it)¹	verbal prefix	category
nominative	–	ki	mi	ez	az	ő* / ∅ az / ∅	–	–
accusative	-t / -ot / -at / -et / -öt	kit	mit	ezt	azt	őt* / ∅ azt / ∅	–	c₁ c₂
dative	-nak / -nek	kinek	minek	ennek	annak	neki	neki-	category
instrumental	-val / -vel	kivel	mivel	ezzel/ evvel	azzal/ avval	vele		category
causal-final	-ért	kiért	miért	ezért	azért	érte	–	category
translative	-vá / -vé	kivé	mivé	ezzé	azzá	–	–	category
terminative	-ig	–	meddig	eddig	addig	–	–	category
essive-formal	-ként	(kiként)	(miként)	ekként	akként	–	–	category
essive-modal	-ul / -ül	–	–	–	–	–	–	category
inessive	-ban / -ben	kiben	miben	ebben	abban	benne	–	category
superessive	-n/-on/-en/-ön	kin	min	ezen	azon	rajta	(rajta-)	category
adessive	-nál / -nél	kinél	minél	ennél	annál	nála	–	category
illative	-ba / -be	kibe	mibe	ebbe	abba	bele	bele-	category
sublative	-ra / -re	kire	mire	erre	arra	rá	rá-	category
allative	-hoz/-hez/-höz	kihez	mihez	ehhez	ahhoz	hozzá	hozzá-	category
elative	-ból / -ből	kiből	miből	ebből	abból	belőle	–	category
delative	-ról / -ről	kiről	miről	erről	arról	róla	–	category
ablative	-tól / -től	kitől	mitől	ettől	attól	tőle	–	category

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

Related terms

Anagrams

Asturian

Verb

Esperanto

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adverb

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

Etymology 3

Verb

Further reading

Anagrams

Galician

Verb

Hungarian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Pronoun

Adverb

Related terms

See also

Further reading

Irish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Noun

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Adjective

Mutation

References

Italian

Noun

Anagrams

Ladin

Verb

Latin

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Adverb

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Participle

References

Middle English

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Descendants

References

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Descendants

References

Old English