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Added 9 October 2026

miss

/mɪs/ verb

In Latin: desum, desidero Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about miss at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To fail to hit, catch, grasp, etc.
I fired the gun, but the bullet missed the target.
To avoid hitting.
The driver swerved and just managed to miss the chicken crossing the road.
To fail to achieve or attain.
The company missed all its sales targets.

noun

A failure to physically hit.
In eight shots at the target he had six misses.
A failure to obtain or accomplish something; a failure to succeed.
After four top-ten singles, the band's next release was a miss.
An act of avoidance .
I think I’ll give the meeting a miss.

noun

Alternative spelling of Miss when used as a term of address or title of respect.
You may sit here, miss.
An unmarried woman; a girl.
A kept woman; a mistress.

Origin

Verb from Middle English missen, from Old English missan (“to miss, escape the notice of a person”), from Proto-West Germanic *missijan, from Proto-Germanic *missijaną (“to miss, go wrong, fail”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change, exchange, trade”). Cognate with West Frisian misse (“to miss”), Dutch missen (“to miss”), German missen (“to miss”), Norwegian Bokmål and Danish miste (“to lose”), Swedish missa (“to miss”), Norwegian Nynorsk, Icelandic missa (“to lose”) and Latin mittere (“to send, let go”). Noun from Middle English misse, mis, from Old English miss (“loss, absence”), from Proto-West Germanic *miss, from Proto-Germanic *miss- (“loss”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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