Etymograph

English

mirable

Mirable comes from Latin mīrābilis ‘wonderful, marvellous, astonishing,…’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sméyros ‘laughing, smiling’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sméyros1‘laughing, smiling’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*smeiros1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmīrus1‘remarkable, astonishing’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmīror2as mīrārī‘to wonder’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmīrābilis2‘wonderful, marvellous, astonishing, extraordinary, remarkable, amazing’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602mirable2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin miror
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English mirable
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “Not Neoptolemus so mirable.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sméyrosWiktionary, Latin miror‘laughing, smiling’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*smeirosWiktionary, Latin mirorreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmīrusWiktionary, Latin miror‘remarkable, astonishing’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmīrorWiktionary, English mirableas mīrārī‘to wonder’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmīrābilisWiktionary, English mirable‘wonderful, marvellous, astonishing, extraordinary, remarkable, amazing’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602mirableWiktionary, English mirable. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “Not Neoptolemus so mirable.”

Linked words

through Latin mīror ‘to wonder’

mirror, admire, miracle, mirage, marvelling, mirador, 6 more

through Latin mīrābilis ‘wonderful, marvellous, astonishing,…’

marvel, 4 more

Today it means

adj wonderful; admirable

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “mirable”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin miror. 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 *sméyros / mirable

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