mug

English

Etymology

1560s ("bowl, pot, jug"), of unknown origin, perhaps from North Germanic (compare Swedish mugg (“mug, jug”), Norwegian mugge (“pitcher, open can for warm drinks”), Danish mugge), or Low German mokke, mukke (“mug”), also of unknown origin. "Face" sense possibly from grotesque faces on certain drinking vessels. "Assault" sense of verb possibly from hitting someone in the face.

Pronunciation

• enPR: mŭg, IPA^(key): /mʌɡ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

Adjective

mug (comparative mugger, superlative muggest)

1. (archaic) Easily fooled, gullible.
   • 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, Bulldog Drummond Chapter 1

     "Great heavens! Is it?" Drummond helped himself to marmalade. "And to think that I once pictured myself skewering Huns with it. Do you think anybody would be mug enough to buy it, James?"

Noun

mug (plural mugs)

1. A large cup for hot liquids, usually having a handle and used without a saucer.
2. (slang) The face, often used deprecatingly.

   What an ugly mug.

3. (slang, vulgar) A gullible or easily-cheated person.

   He’s a gullible mug – he believed her again.

4. (UK, slang) A stupid or contemptible person.

Synonyms

• (face): mush
• (gullible person): See Wikisaurus:dupe

Derived terms

(face):

• mug book
• mug shot

(gullible person):

• mug’s game

Translations

large cup

• Arabic: قعب m (qaʿb)
• Armenian: գավաթ (gavatʿ)
• Asturian: taza f
• Belarusian: гуртка f (húrtka)
• Bulgarian: чаша (bg) f (čáša)
• Catalan: tassa f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馬克杯, 马克杯 (mǎkèbēi) (loanword), 杯子 (zh) (bēizi)

• Czech: hrnek (cs) m
• Danish: krus (da) n
• Dutch: beker (nl) m, mok (nl) f
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: kruus
• Faroese: krúss n
• Finnish: muki (fi)
• French: mug (fr) m
• Galician: cunca (gl) f
• Georgian: თასი (t’asi)
• German: Becher (de) m
• Greek: κύπελλο (el) n (kýpello), κούπα (el) f (koúpa)
• Hebrew: ספל (he) m (sefel)
• Hungarian: bögre (hu)
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: muga m
• Italian: boccale (it) m, gotto m
• Japanese: マグカップ (magukappu), ジョッキ (jokki)

• Jèrriais: godet m, godîn m, hana m, mogue m
• Kazakh: саптаяқ (saptayaq)
• Korean: 머그잔 (ko) (meogeujan)
• Latgalian: kauss
• Latvian: kauss
• Lithuanian: kaušas, taurė
• Macedonian: кригла f (krígla)
• Maori: maka
• Mongolian: сэнжтэй аяга (senžtej ajaga)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: krus

• Persian: لیوان (fa) (livân)
• Polish: kubek (pl) m
• Portuguese: caneca (pt) f
• Romanian: cană (ro) f
• Russian: кружка (ru) f (krúžka)
• Slovak: hrnček m
• Slovene: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: taza (es) f, jarro (es) m
• Swedish: mugg (sv) c
• Turkish: kupa (tr)
• Ukrainian: гуртка f (húrtka), кухоль m (kúxolʹ)
• Welsh: mẁg m, mwgaid m
• West Frisian: beker, mok (fy)
• Yiddish: קופל (kufl)

(slang) the face

• Bulgarian: мутра (bg) f (mutra)
• Czech: (slang) ksicht (cs) m
• Danish: fjæs (da) n
• Dutch: smoelwerk n
• Faroese: gron f
• Finnish: (slang) pärstä
• French: gueule (fr) f, tronche (fr) f, trogne (fr) f, poire (fr) f
• Georgian: სიფათი (ka) (sip’at’i)
• German: Gesicht (de) n, Visage f
• Greek: μούτρο (el) n (moútro)

• Italian: muso (it) m
• Japanese: かお (ja) (kao)
• Polish: gęba (pl) f, morda (pl) f
• Portuguese: cara (pt) f
• Russian: рожа (ru) f (róža), морда (ru) f (mórda), рыло (ru) n (rýlo), харя (ru) f (xárja), мурло (ru) n (murló)
• Slovak: (slang) ksicht m
• Spanish: jeta (es) f
• Swedish: tryne (sv) n (the nose of a pig)
• West Frisian: antlit

(colloquial) a person who is easily fooled

• Danish: fæ n, tosse c
• Dutch: achterlijke (nl) m, idioot (nl) m, goedgelovige
• French: couillon (fr) m, gogo (fr) m, poire (fr) f, pigeon (fr) m
• Georgian: გულუბრყვილო (gulubrqvilo)
• German: Idiot (de) m
• Greek: κορόιδο (el) n (koróido)
• Hungarian: balek, palimadár
• Italian: gonzo (it) m, babbeo (it), credulone, idiota (it) m

• Polish: frajer (pl) m
• Portuguese: (colloquial) trouxa (pt) c
• Russian: лох (ru) m (lox), фраер (ru) m (frájer)
• Slovak: (colloquial) naivka f, (colloquial) teliatko n
• Spanish: idiota, tonto del culo f
• Swedish: dumbom (sv) c
• West Frisian: idioat, ezel (jackass)

See also

• cup
• pannikin

Descendants

• Finnish: muki
• Swedish: mugg

Verb

mug (third-person singular simple present mugs, present participle mugging, simple past and past participle mugged)

1. (transitive, obsolete, UK) To strike in the face.
   • 1821, The Fancy, i. p. 261.

     Madgbury showed game, drove Abbot in a corner, but got well Mugg'd.

   • 1857, "The Leary Man", in Anglicus Ducange, The Vulgar Tongue

     And if you come to fibbery, You must Mug one or two,

   • 1866, London Miscellany, 5 May, p. 102

     "Suppose they had Mugged you?" / "Done what to me?" / "Mugged you. Slogged you, you know."

2. (transitive) To assault for the purpose of robbery.
3. (intransitive) To exaggerate a facial expression for communicative emphasis; to make a face, to pose, as for photographs or in a performance, in an exaggerated or affected manner.

   The children weren't interested in sitting still for a serious photo; they mugged for the camera.

Derived terms

• mug off
• mug up

Translations

to assault for the purpose of robbery

• Dutch: overvallen (nl), beroven (nl)
• Finnish: ryöstää (fi)
• French: agresser (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: ausrauben

• Greek: ληστεύω (el) (listévo)
• Italian: scippare, borseggiare
• Portuguese: assaltar (pt)
• Spanish: atracar (es)
• Swedish: råna (sv)

to exaggerate a facial expression

• French: faire des simagrées

References

• “mug” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
• mug at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• gum, GUM

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Albanian

Alternative forms

• mugë

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *smuga, cognate to Old English smoca (“smoke”), Old Irish múch (“id”), Armenian մուխ (mux).

Noun

mug m (indefinite plural mugje, definite singular mugu, definite plural mugjet)

1. dusk, twilight

Derived terms

• mugull
• mugullon
• mugët

Related terms

• mjegull
• murg
• muzg

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Danish

Noun

mug c, n (uncountable, singular indefinite mug, singular definite muggen or mugget)

1. mold

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Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *mugjō (“midge”), from Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“fly, midge”), *mu-, *mew-. Compare Low German mügge, German Mücke, West Frisian mich, English midge, Danish myg.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mʏx/
• Rhymes: -ʏx

• audio

  (file)

Noun

mug f, m (plural muggen, diminutive mugje n or muggetje n)

1. mosquito, except the larger tropical species, which are called muskiet
2. (figuratively) bug, insignificant individual

Derived terms

• muggebeet
• muggengaas
• muggenolie
• muggeziften
• (species) malariamug, steekmug

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French

Etymology

From English mug

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /møɡ/

Noun

mug m (plural mugs)

1. A large cup, generally used to serve cold drinks, a mug.

---

Old Irish

Noun

mug m

1. male slave or servant, serf, bondman

---

Volapük

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mug]

Noun

mug (plural mugs)

1. mouse (rodent of the family Muridae)

Declension

declension of mug

	singular	plural
nominative	mug	mugs
genitive	muga	mugas
dative	muge	muges
accusative	mugi	mugis
predicative	mugu	mugus
vocative	o mug!	o mugs!

Hyponyms

• himug
• jimug
• mugil
• mugül

Hypernyms

• nim
• sügaf
• süganim
• tuetaf
• tuetanim

Derived terms

Terms derived from "mug"

felamug flitamug mugagöb mugajiedot mugam mugamakat muganäst

mugaparat mugifanan mugiträp mugiträpatedan mugivenen mugön

See also

• rat
• visul
• yat