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Added 9 October 2026

mile

/maɪ̯l/ noun

Latin root: mīlia Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about mile at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; exactly 1609.344 meters.
A unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters; historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude.
A large distance.
he missed by a mile

Origin

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”)).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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