mile

Etymology

From Middle English myle, mile, from Old English mīl, from Proto-West Germanic *mīliju, a borrowing of Latin mīlia, mīllia, plural of mīle, mīlle (“mile”) (literally ‘thousand’ but used as a short form of mīlle passūs (“a thousand paces”)).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /maɪ̯l/, [maɪ̯ɫ]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪl

Noun

mile (plural miles or (UK colloquial) mile)

1. 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.

   Turn left in 1.2 miles.

   You need to go about three mile down the road. (UK colloquial plural)

2. Any of several customary units of length derived from the 1593 English statute mile of 8 furlongs, equivalent to 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards of various precise values.
   • 1892, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate: A Novel, page 16:

     Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:

     Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.

   • 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

     From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. […]   But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.

3. Any of many customary units of length derived from the Roman mile (mille passus) of 8 stades or 5,000 Roman feet.
4. The Scandinavian mile: a unit of length precisely equal to 10 kilometers defined in 1889.
5. Any of many customary units of length from other measurement systems of roughly similar values, as the Chinese mile or Arabic mile.
6. (travel) An airline mile in a frequent flyer program.
7. (informal) Any similarly large distance.

   The shot missed by a mile.

8. (athletics) A race of 1 mile's length; a race of around 1 mile's length (usually 1500 or 1600 meters)

   The runners competed in the mile.

9. (colloquial) One mile per hour, as a measure of speed.

   five miles over the speed limit

See also

Anagrams

• Elim, Elmi, Emil, Imel, Lemi, Liem, Meli, elim, lime

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech mile, míle. By surface analysis, milý +‎ -e.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɪlɛ]

Adverb

mile (comparative mileji, superlative nejmileji)

1. kindly, warmly

Further reading

• “mile”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “mile”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “mile”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miːlə/, [ˈmiːlə]
• Rhymes: -ajl

Noun

mile c (singular definite milen, plural indefinite miler)

1. dune
2. charcoal stack
3. atomic pile

Etymology

From English mile.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mil/, /majl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

mile m (plural miles)

1. mile

Further reading

• “mile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• lime, limé
• miel

Noun

mile

1. mile (unit of measure)

Etymology 1

From Old English mīl (“millet”) and Latin milium (“millet”).

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmiː.le/

Noun

mīle

1. inflection of mīl:
   1. nominative plural
   2. accusative singular/plural
   3. genitive/dative singular

Alternative forms

• mil

Etymology

From Latin mīlle (plural mīlia).

Numeral

mile

1. one thousand

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmi.lɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ilɛ
• Syllabification: mi‧le
• Homophones: Mile, milę, Milę

Etymology 1

From miły +‎ -e.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Further reading

• mile in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• mile in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmile]

Noun

mile f pl

1. plural of milă

Adjective

mile

1. inflection of mio:
   1. masculine accusative plural
   2. feminine genitive singular
   3. feminine nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Etymology

From Middle English mille, from Old English mylen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /miːɫ/
• Homophones: mele, meale, moile

Noun

mile

1. mill
   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 12, page 88:

     Licke a mope an a mile, he gazt ing a mize;

     Like a fool in a mill, he looked in amazement;

   • 1867, “CASTEALE CUDDE'S LAMENTATION”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 1, page 102:

     Dhicka die fan ich want to a mile.

     That day when I went to the mill.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 56