English
mile
Mile comes from Old English mīl, from Proto-West Germanic *mīliju, from Latin mīlia, plural of mīlle ‘thousand (paces), Roman mile’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmīlle‘thousand; a mile’
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mīliju‘mile’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150mīl‘mile’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500myle
- Englishearliest quotation 1892mile
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmīlle‘thousand; a mile’
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mīliju‘mile’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150mīl‘mile’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500myle
- Englishearliest quotation 1892mile
Earliest quotation: 1892, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate: A Novel: “Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- ‘to spread’
expansion, repeat, compete, pen, expand, petition, patent, helicopter, competitor, feather, symptom, perpetual, spawn, impetus, expanse, perpetuate, perpetuity, pennant, petulant, patina, pinion, impetuous, patella, pata, penna, petulance, 79 more
through Proto-Italic *pat-s-tus
through Latin passus ‘Roman mile’
pace, passage, passive, compass, pas, trespass, passable, 8 more
through Latin mīlle
million, yard, billion, billiard, 11 more
through Latin mīlia
Today it means
noun The international mile: a unit of length precisely equal to 1.609344 kilometers established by treaty among Anglophone nations in 1959, divided into 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin mīlle / mile