mireor (Old French)

Where does "mireor" come from?

The Old French noun 'mireor'[1], meaning 'mirror' or 'a typical example', was formed from the verb 'mirer'[1] combined with the suffix '-eor'[1]. The underlying verb 'mirer' descends from the Latin 'mīrārī'[2], meaning 'to marvel at'. This Latin root traces back further to 'mīrus'[3], meaning 'remarkable' or 'astonishing', which originates from Proto-Indo-European through Proto-Italic[3].

Open questions

• The ancestral connections linking the Latin and Proto-Indo-European forms rely on reconstructed linguistic roots. [3] [4]

Full etymology tree

• mireor (Old French), 'mirror'
  • affix mirer (Old French), 'to look at; to watch'
    • inherited mirari (Latin), 'present active infinitive of mīror'
  • suffix -eor (Old French), 'alternative form of -or (suffix indicating an agent noun)'

Ancestors

• mirer (Old French)

Descendants and derived words

• mirour (Middle English)
• miroir (Middle French)

Sources

1. mireor (Old French) - Wiktionary
2. mirer (Old French) - Wiktionary
3. miror (Latin) - Wiktionary
4. mirus (Latin) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris