Etymograph

English

mild

Mild comes from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- ‘to beat, pound, grind’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-1‘to beat, pound, grind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mildijaz1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150milde1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500milde1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1897mild1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English mild
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “I corralled the judge, and we started off across…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-Wiktionary, English mild‘to beat, pound, grind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mildijazWiktionary, English mildreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150mildeWiktionary, English mild
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mildeWiktionary, English mild
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1897mildWiktionary, English mild. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “I corralled the judge, and we started off across…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- ‘to beat, pound, grind’

meal, miller, mole, mill, mule, mold, muller, mould, bonanza, molar, mullet, melatonin, mull, amalgam, malleable, moulin, maelstrom, martel, moline, malm, amyl, 39 more

through Proto-Germanic *mildijaz

camo, 2 more

Today it means

adj Gentle and not easily angered

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “mild”. 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 *melh₂- / mild

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