Someone asked me how mimic was spelled, and that set me wondering: how many words there are with mimi in.
I thought there could not be many, and indeed it turns out there are just over a dozen, and they are mostly all related in some way to mime. This word originates in Latin mimus, from ancient Greek μῖμος, which referred to some sort of farcical performance, or the act of performing in one, or the kind of act you might put on in such a performance.
So we have mimic, mimicry, mimicking etc., but also pantomiming, and pantomimic. A pantomime is an "all mime', from Greek παντο = all + mime.
The only unrelated words I found with mimi in were semimicro and semimild, which seem to mean roughly what you might guess.
To finish, here is a rather jolly quotation I found in the OED:
A witty ayery young Lady, of a great fortune,..persecuted with the love of Crazy, Brisk, and Drybob*, whom she mimicks and abuses.
T. Shadwell, Humorists 1671.
* A drybob is a smart repartee, according to Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1811.
What English words contain "mimi"?
Someone asked me how mimic was spelled, and that set me wondering: how many words there are with mimi in.
I thought there could not be many, and indeed it turns out there are just over a dozen, and they are mostly all related in some way to mime. This word originates in Latin mimus, from ancient Greek μῖμος, which referred to some sort of farcical performance, or the act of performing in one, or the kind of act you might put on in such a performance.
So we have mimic, mimicry, mimicking etc., but also pantomiming, and pantomimic. A pantomime is an "all mime', from Greek παντο = all + mime.
The only unrelated words I found with mimi in were semimicro and semimild, which seem to mean roughly what you might guess.
To finish, here is a rather jolly quotation I found in the OED:
A witty ayery young Lady, of a great fortune,..persecuted with the love of Crazy, Brisk, and Drybob*, whom she mimicks and abuses.
T. Shadwell, Humorists 1671.
* A drybob is a smart repartee, according to Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1811.