Etymology
1. O.E.
missan "fail to hit, fail in what was aimed at," infl. by O.N.
missa "to miss, to lack;" both from P.Gmc.
*missijanan (cf. O.Fris.
missa, M.Du.
missen, Ger.
missen "to miss, fail"), from base
*misso-, which perhaps is the root of
(mis- (1)). Meaning "to fail to get what one wanted" is from c.1250. Sense of "to escape, avoid" is from 1526; that of "to perceive with regret the absence or loss of (something or someone)" is from 1470. Sense of "to not be on time for" is from 1823; to
miss the boat in the fig. sense of "be too late for" is from 1929, originally nautical slang. The noun meaning "a failure to hit or attain" is recorded from 1555 (O.E. noun
*miss meant "absence, loss"). To
give something a miss "to abstain from, avoid" is from 1919. Phrase
a miss is as good as a mile was originally,
an inch, in a miss, is as good as an ell (see ell). To
miss out (on) "fail to get" is from 1929.
Missing link first attested 1851 in Lyell.
Missing person is from 1876.
2. 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”).
3. 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”). See: Old English '
missan', Proto-Germanic '
*missijaną', Dutch '
missen', German, old spelling '
missen', Danish '
miste', Swedish '
missa', Icelandic '
missa', Latin '
mittere'.
Verbs referencing "miss"
Norwegian, nynorsk
missa, Danish
miste, Luxembourgish
mëssen, Maltese
mmisja, Spanish
missear.