English
mill
Mill comes from Middle English mylne, from Old English mylen, from Proto-West Germanic *mulīnu, from Late Latin molīna, from molō ‘to grind’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmolō1‘to grind’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmolīna1‘mill’
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mulīnu1‘mill’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150mylen1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mylne1‘mill’
- Englishearliest quotation 1611mill1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English mill
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, Thomas Middleton, The Roaring Girl: “Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough,…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmolōWiktionary, English mill‘to grind’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmolīnaWiktionary, English mill‘mill’
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mulīnuWiktionary, English mill‘mill’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150mylenWiktionary, English mill
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mylneWiktionary, English mill‘mill’
- Englishearliest quotation 1611millWiktionary, English mill. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, Thomas Middleton, The Roaring Girl: “Ben mort, shall you and I heave a bough,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- ‘to grind, crush’
meal, mold, mole, mould, mule, mild, camo, bonanza, molar, melatonin, amalgam, maelstrom, mullet, martel, malleable, mull, malm, amyl, 40 more
through Latin molō ‘grind, mill’
through Late Latin molīna
Another origin of mill
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmillesimum
- Englishtodaymill
The clipping comes by way of the clipped word, millimetre.
Today it means
noun A grinding apparatus for substances such as grains, seeds, etc. (Some are small and simple, and some are large and complex.)
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “mill”. 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 / Latin molō / mill