Etymograph

English

mickle

Mickle comes from Middle English mickle ‘much’, from Old English miċel ‘big, large’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*méǵh₂s1‘big, great’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mikilaz1‘great, large’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mikil2reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150miċel1‘big, large’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mickle1‘much’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1576mickle1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English mickle
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English micel
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1576, Iohannes Caius [i.e., To the Reader: “Neurthelesse little or mickle, something or nothing, substaunce or…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*méǵh₂sWiktionary, English mickle‘big, great’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mikilazWiktionary, English mickle‘great, large’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mikilWiktionary, Old English micelreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150miċelWiktionary, English mickle‘big, large’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mickleWiktionary, English mickle‘much’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1576mickleWiktionary, English mickle. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1576, Iohannes Caius [i.e., To the Reader: “Neurthelesse little or mickle, something or nothing, substaunce or…”

The story

The word is cognate with Faroese mikil (‘large, great, much’), Icelandic mikill (‘large in quantity or number; much; great’), Middle High German michel (‘large, much’). For the adverb and noun forms, compare Middle English muchel (“extensively, greatly, much”, adverb) and Middle English muchel (“large amount”, noun).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s ‘big, great’

major, master, mayor, magnitude, magnum, maxim, magnate, magnify, maggiore, mahila, 15 more

through Proto-Germanic *mikilaz ‘great, large’

mair

through Proto-West Germanic *mikil

much, muckle

Today it means

adj (Very) great or large.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “mickle”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English micel. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s / mickle

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