mouse
A small rodent with a pointed snout and long tail.
Etymology
From Old English mūs (plural mȳs), from Proto-Germanic *mūs, from PIE *muh₁s- "mouse." The irregular plural "mice" preserves an ancient Germanic vowel change (i-umlaut) where the plural suffix -iz caused the vowel ū to shift to ȳ. The PIE word may derive from a root meaning "thief" or "stealer."
The Journey: *muh₁s- → mouse
*muh₁s-
*mūs
mūs (pl. mȳs)
mouse (pl. mice)
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *muh₁s-. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Greek | mûs |
| Latin | mūs |
| Persian | mūš |
| Albanian | mi |
| Armenian | mukn |
| Sanskrit | mū́ṣ |
| Old Church Slavonic | myšĭ |
Did You Know?
The word "muscle" comes from Latin musculus, literally "little mouse" — Romans thought a flexing muscle looked like a mouse running under the skin.
This word descends from the Proto-Indo-European root *muh₁s-. See the full root page for descendant trees, sound law references, and scholarly discussion.