mile

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A unit of distance equal to about 1.6 kilometres.

   The nearest town is about five miles from here.

2. 2
   noun

   A very long distance (informal).

   The shot missed the goal by a mile.

3. 3
   noun

   A race that is one mile long.

   She set a new school record in the mile.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Mile goes back to Latin mille passus or mille passuum, “one thousand paces,” later shortened to mille. The distance of one thousand paces, or two thousand steps, marched by Roman troops became a fixed unit of measurement, and the word entered many European languages, including Old English.

From Middle English myle, mile, from Old English mīl, from Proto-West Germanic *mīliju, a borrowing of Latin mīlia, mīllia, plural of mīle, mīlle (“mile”) (literally ‘thousand’ but used as a short form of mīlle passūs (“a thousand paces”)).

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary