mys-

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English mis-, from Proto-West Germanic *missa-, from Proto-Germanic *missa-. Reinforced by Old French mes-, ultimately from the same Proto-Germanic source.

While forms in -y- are definitely partly attributable to a desire to avoid the confusion of minims, they may have been encouraged by association with words such as mysterie.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mis-/, /mɛs-/

Prefix

mys-

  1. mis- (badly, wrongly)
  2. mis- (incorrectly, erroneously)

Derived terms

Descendants

  • English: mis-
  • Scots: mis-

References