Etymograph

English

mule

Mule may come from Middle English mule.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mule1uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1789mule1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English mule
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants: “Vegetable mules supply an irrefragable argument in favour of…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500muleWiktionary, English muleuncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1789muleWiktionary, English mule. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants: “Vegetable mules supply an irrefragable argument in favour of…”

Every English word from Middle English mule

Another origin of mule

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-‘dark, black’uncertain
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*mélans‘black’uncertain
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμέλαςmélas‘dark in color’uncertain
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμύλλοςmúllos‘a kind of fish brought salted from the Black Sea’uncertain
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūllus‘red mullet’uncertain
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmulleus‘of a red color’uncertain
  7. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500mula‘slipper, shoe with a thick sole’
  8. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600mule‘backless slipper’
  9. Englishtodaymule

Today it means

noun The generally sterile male or female hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “mule”. 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 / Middle English mule / mule

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