Etymologically
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miscellaneous

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌmɪsəˈleɪnɪəs/[1]
  • US: /ˌmɪsəˈleɪniəs/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin miscellāneus (“mixed, combining various elements”), with the suffix -ous.[2][3][4] The Latin adjective, rare in classical and later Latin, is formed from miscellus (“mixed”) and the suffix -āneus,[2][5][6] and miscellus comes from misceō (“to mix”),[7][8][9][10] probably through an unrecorded diminutive in -ulus, which Barnhart gives as *misculus;[2][10] Merriam-Webster also calls the link probable.[11] The OED compares the post-classical Latin misculō (“to mix”), the source of meddle.[2] The Latin verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *meik- (“to mix”),[8][7] the root also of mix.[8][12] English had earlier used the shorter miscellane, as an adjective (1603–57) and a noun (1582–1664).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of mixed composition; of various kinds: 1615, in Sir Thomas Roe's account of his embassy to the Great Mogul.[2][11] Barnhart dates the word to 1637,[10][13] and Etymonline and Dictionary.com to the 1630s.[8][5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the Latin: with a singular noun, of mixed character; with a plural one, of various kinds.[2][3] From 1646, in Sir Thomas Browne, it was also used of a person, especially a writer, who dealt with many subjects;[2][14] Johnson (1755) quoted Browne for this, and defined the word as "mingled; composed of various kinds".[15] The related noun miscellany, a mixed collection, is recorded from 1615 and probably came through French miscellanées.[10][6]

Timeline

  • 1582 – the earlier miscellane, a mixture (obsolete by 1664).[2]
  • 1615 – of mixed composition; of various kinds.[2][11]
  • 1637 – the first date in Barnhart.[10]
  • 1646 – of a person, many-sided, writing on various subjects.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Made up of things of different kinds; assorted or varied: a drawer full of miscellaneous cables and chargers.[16][11][2]
  2. Of a person, especially a writer: having many sides or interests; dealing with various subjects.[16][2]

Word family

  • miscellaneously
  • miscellaneousness
  • miscegenation
  • miscellany
  • miscellanea
  • miscible
  • mix
  • meddle

Usage notes

Dictionary.com distinguishes miscellaneous, which stresses a mixture of things of different kinds, from indiscriminate, which stresses a lack of discrimination in choosing, and promiscuous, which stresses it still more strongly.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  13. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  14. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins