mist

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mist, inherited from Old English mist (“dimness, mist”),^[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *mihstaz.^[2][6] It is cognate with Middle Low German mist, Dutch mist, Icelandic mistur and Swedish mist.^[3][7][8] The OED traces it to an extended form of the Indo-European base also seen in Sanskrit मेघ (megha, “cloud”), Ancient Greek ὀμίχλη (omíkhlē, “mist, cloud”), Lithuanian migla (“mist”) and Russian мгла (mgla, “haze”);^[7][9] Barnhart and Klein give the root as Proto-Indo-European *meigh-.^[3][4] Etymonline links the word, perhaps, to *meigh- in the sense "to urinate", and notes that Beekes thinks the Greek and Slavic words for fog more likely come from a separate root.^[2] The OED finds a connection with mix (dung) doubtful.^[7] The verb is inherited from Middle English misten, inherited from Old English mistian (“to grow misty, grow dim”), from the noun.^[3][2][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English mist meant mist and also dimness or darkness.^[3][5][4] It is found first in compounds, misthleoþu, misty cliffs, and wælmist, the mist of death, about 725, and alone about 875 in a version of Genesis.^[3][2] Old English also used it for dimness of the eyes and for whatever obscures the mind.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative senses are as old as the literal one: from Old English times mist was a dimness of eyesight, through illness or tears, and anything that clouds a person's understanding.^[7][2] Phrases such as to cast a mist before someone's eyes, to mislead them, follow from the 15th century;^[7] from 1532 the word also meant a state of doubt or bewilderment.^[7] The mists of time, a dimness produced by the passing of years, are recorded from 1701.^[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as a low thin cloud and a fine rain whose drops are not seen separately.^[11] Later senses are mostly technical: condensed vapour on a surface (1870), an artificial spray for plants (1941), and a grey colour (1926).^[7] The verb, Old English mistian, to grow misty or dim, was used transitively for covering with mist from the early 15th century,^[2][7] of glass and the like misting over or up from 1942, and for spraying plants from 1967.^[7] In Kent to mist meant to drizzle, and in Wiltshire a mist-pond was a pond on the downs fed only by mist, dew and rain.^[12] In drug slang mist is the drug PCP.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 725 – in Old English compounds such as wælmist, the mist of death.^[3]
• c. 875 – mist, mist or dimness, in a version of Genesis.^[3]
• c. 1000 – the verb mistian, to grow dim.^[3]
• c. 1175 – a cloud of smoke or vapour resembling mist; a haze.^[7]
• before 1439 – to cover with mist.^[7]
• 1532 – a state of doubt or bewilderment.^[7]
• 1701 – figurative dimness produced by time, as in the mists of time.^[7]
• 1870 – condensed vapour on a surface.^[7]
• 1941 – an artificial spray of fine droplets, as for plants.^[7]
• 1942 – to become covered with condensation (mist over, mist up).^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Fine drops of water hanging in the air near the ground, thinner than fog: Mist lay over the fields at dawn.^[14][10][7]
2. (meteorology) Such a condition with visibility of one to two kilometres.^[14]
3. A fine spray of any liquid, as from an aerosol can.^[14][7]
4. Condensed water vapour that blurs a surface such as a window.^[14][7]
5. Something that dims sight or understanding, such as a film of tears: the mists of time.^[14][7]

Verb

1. To be or become misty; of the eyes or a view, to become dim or blurred: His eyes misted as he read the letter.^[10][7]
2. To cover, or become covered, with mist or condensation: The windscreen misted up.^[14][7]
3. To spray with a fine mist of water: She misted the ferns every morning.^[7]

Word family

• mistless
• mistbow
• mistflower
• love-in-a-mist
• misty
• demist
• demister

Related words

• mizzle

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins