mixer

Etymology

It is formed from English mix + -er.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The verb mix is a back-formation from Middle English myxte (“mingled, blended”), from Anglo-Norman mixte, from Latin mixtus, the past participle of misceō (“to mix, mingle”), from Proto-Indo-European *meik- (“to mix”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who blends or mixes materials or liquids, especially in making a product: 1598, in John Florio's Italian–English dictionary A Worlde of Wordes.^[2][3] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1610s,^[6] Dictionary.com the word to 1605–15.^[4]

Semantic evolution

For more than two centuries a mixer was only a person; in the United States the word came to be used of a bartender, who mixes drinks (1858, in Longfellow).^[2] Machines and devices for mixing followed from 1876, among them the electric food mixer and the cement mixer,^[2][6] and a container for mixing drinks, a cocktail shaker, from 1895.^[2] The social sense started in American English: from 1883 a person was described as a good or bad mixer according to how easily he or she mixed with others,^[2] a use Etymonline dates to 1896.^[6] Since 1916 a mixer has also been a social gathering at which people get to know one another.^[2][6] The sound industry took the word up in the late 1920s, for the person who balances the sounds of a recording (1928) and for the device that combines the signals (1929).^[2] A soft drink used to dilute spirits is a mixer from 1925.^[2] In British slang a mixer is a troublemaker, recorded in Partridge's slang dictionary of 1938;^[2][6] Green's Dictionary of Slang also records it for a fighter or brawler from 1920.^[7]

Timeline

• 1598 – a person who mixes materials (Etymonline: 1610s).^[2][3][6]
• 1858 – in the United States, a bartender.^[2]
• 1876 – a machine or device for mixing.^[2][6]
• 1883 – a person in respect of how well he or she mixes socially.^[2]
• 1895 – a container for mixing drinks.^[2]
• 1916 – a social gathering for getting acquainted.^[2][6]
• 1920 – slang, a fighter.^[7]
• 1925 – a soft drink used in mixed drinks.^[2]
• 1928 – a person who operates a sound mixer; 1929, the device itself.^[2]
• 1938 – British slang, a troublemaker.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A machine or appliance for mixing things, such as an electric kitchen mixer for batter or a concrete mixer.^[8][3][2]
2. A soft drink, such as tonic water or ginger ale, used to dilute spirits or make cocktails.^[8][2]
3. A person considered by how easily he or she mixes with others: Her brother was never much of a mixer.^[8][2]
4. A device that combines and balances several sound signals; also, a person who operates one.^[3][2]
5. (North American) A social gathering meant to help people get acquainted.^[2][6]
6. A person whose job is mixing the ingredients of a product.^[3][2]
7. (British, slang) A troublemaker who stirs up quarrels.^[8][2][7]

Word family

• cement mixer

Related words

• mix
• mixture
• mixologist
• mixology

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins