miss

== English == === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /mɪs/ Rhymes: -ɪs === Etymology 1 === Verb from Middle English missen, from Old English missan (“to miss, escape the notice of a person”), from Proto-West Germanic *missijan, from Proto-Germanic *missijaną (“to miss, go wrong, fail”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change, exchange, trade”). Cognate with West Frisian misse (“to miss”), Dutch missen (“to miss”), German missen (“to miss”), Norwegian Bokmål and Danish miste (“to lose”), Swedish missa (“to miss”), Norwegian Nynorsk, Icelandic missa (“to lose”) and Latin mittere (“to send, let go”). Noun from Middle English misse, mis, from Old English miss (“loss, absence”), from Proto-West Germanic *miss, from Proto-Germanic *miss- (“loss”). Cognate with Scots miss (“a loss, want, cause of grief or mourning”), Middle High German misse, mis (“lack, missing, absence”), Icelandic missir (“loss”). Related also to Scots mis (“wrongdoing, sin, guilt”), Dutch mis (“misdeed, wrongdoing, mistake”), Middle Low German misse (“sin, wrong”). ==== Verb ==== miss (third-person singular simple present misses, present participle missing, simple past and past participle missed) (ambitransitive, physical) To fail to hit, catch, grasp, etc. (ambitransitive, physical) To avoid hitting. (transitive) To fail to achieve or attain. (transitive) To fail to experience, attend, partake, take advantage of, etc. (transitive) To avoid or escape. (transitive) To become aware of the loss or absence of; to feel the want or need of, sometimes with regret; to feel sadness at the absence of somebody or something. (transitive) To fail to understand. Antonym: catch (transitive) To fail to notice; to have a shortcoming of perception; overlook. (transitive) To be too late to connect with or meet something or someone (a means of transportation, a deadline, etc.). (transitive, mostly continuous tenses) To be wanting; to lack something that should be present (see also adjectival missing). (transitive, slang, African-American Vernacular) To spare someone of something unwanted or undesirable. (poker, said of a card) To fail to help the hand of a player. (sports) To fail to score (a goal). (intransitive, obsolete) To go wrong; to err. (intransitive, obsolete) To be absent, deficient, or wanting. ===== Usage notes ===== This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs ===== Antonyms ===== (antonym(s) of “to fail to hit”): hit, strike, impinge on, run into, collide with ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Descendants ===== → Kashubian: zmisowac (Canada, United States) ===== Translations ===== ==== Noun ==== miss (plural misses) A failure to physically hit. A failure to obtain or accomplish something; a failure to succeed. An act of avoidance (usually used with the verb give). (informal) Someone or something whose loss or absence is felt. (computing) The situation where an item is not found in a cache and therefore needs to be explicitly loaded. (snooker) A foul shot that fails to hit the target ball, where the player has, in the referee's judgement, not made every effort to play a legal shot; in addition to conceding points for the foul, the player can be made to play the shot again. (obsolete) Error, fault; misdeed, wrongdoing, sin. (obsolete) Hurt or harm from a mistake or accident. (obsolete) Loss, lack want; hence, the feeling of loss. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === From mistress. ==== Alternative forms ==== Miss meess, Meess (archaic, eye dialect) ==== Noun ==== miss (countable and uncountable, plural misses) Alternative spelling of Miss when used as a term of address or title of respect. An unmarried woman; a girl. A kept woman; a mistress. (card games) In the game of three-card loo, an extra hand, dealt on the table, which may be substituted for the hand dealt to a player. ===== Coordinate terms ===== (titles) (of a man): Mr (Mister, mister), Sir (sir); (of a woman): Ms (Miz, mizz), Mrs (Mistress, mistress), Miss (miss), Dame (dame), Madam (madam, ma'am); (of a non-binary person): Mx (Mixter); (see also): Dr (Doctor, doctor) (Category: en:Titles) ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== missis, missus missy ===== Translations ===== === Anagrams === ISMs, isms, MSiS, SIMS, Sims, ISMS, MSIs, sims, SMIs == Catalan == === Etymology === Borrowed from English miss. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central, Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈmis] === Noun === miss f (plural misses) beauty queen == Dutch == === Etymology 1 === From English miss. ==== Pronunciation ==== IPA(key): /mɪs/ ==== Noun ==== miss f (plural missen, diminutive missje n) a winner of a beauty contest a beauty a girl with a high self-esteem === Etymology 2 === See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form. ==== Alternative forms ==== mss ==== Adverb ==== miss (Internet slang, text messaging) abbreviation of misschien (“maybe”) == German == === Alternative forms === miß (superseded) === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /mɪs/ Rhymes: -ɪs === Verb === miss singular imperative of messen == Maltese == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈmɪs/ Rhymes: -ɪs === Verb === miss second-person singular imperative of mess == Norwegian Nynorsk == === Verb === miss imperative of missa == Old English == === Alternative forms === mis — late Old English === Etymology === From Proto-West Germanic *miss, from Proto-Germanic *miss- (“loss, want”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change, replace”). Cognate with Old Norse missir, missa (“loss”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /miss/, [mis] === Noun === miss n loss ==== Declension ==== Strong a-stem: ==== Related terms ==== mis- misċan missan ==== Descendants ==== Middle English: mis, mys, misse, mysse (merged with Old Norse missir, missa) English: miss Scots: mis, miss == Polish == === Etymology === Unadapted borrowing from English miss. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈmis/ Rhymes: -is Syllabification: miss === Noun === miss f (indeclinable) beauty queen === Further reading === “miss”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN “miss”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎[3] (in Polish) == Romanian == === Etymology === Unadapted borrowing from English miss. === Noun === miss f (plural miss) miss (title) == Spanish == === Etymology === Unadapted borrowing from English miss. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈmis/ [ˈmis] Rhymes: -is Syllabification: miss Homophone: mis === Noun === miss f (plural misses, masculine míster, masculine plural místeres) Miss, beauty queen (winner in a female beauty contest) (Mexico) female teacher ==== Usage notes ==== According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed. ==== Further reading ==== “miss”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025 === Anagrams === sims == Swedish == === Pronunciation === === Etymology 1 === Related to the verb missa. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term, particularly: Also from English miss?. ==== Noun ==== miss c a miss (failure to hit) Synonym: bom a mistake Synonym: misstag ===== Declension ===== === Etymology 2 === Borrowed from English miss. ==== Noun ==== miss c Miss ((title for an) unmarried woman (in English-speaking countries)) Synonym: (native) fröken a Miss ((title for a) female participant in or winner of a beauty pageant or beauty contest) Synonyms: skönhetsmiss, (sometimes, for Swedish contests) fröken ===== Declension ===== ===== See also ===== skönhetsdrottning (“beauty queen”) skönhetstävling (“beauty pageant, beauty contest”) === Etymology 3 === Onomatopoeic ==== Interjection ==== miss (rare) Used to call a cat. Synonym: kiss ===== Derived terms ===== misse === References === “miss”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish) “miss”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish) “miss”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)