mirror

English

A vase reflected in a mirror.

Alternative forms

• mirrour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English mirour, from Old French mireor (“mirror”, literally “looker, watcher”), from mirer (“look at”), from Latin mīror (“wonder at”), from mīrus (“wonderful”), from Proto-Indo-European *smey- (“to laugh, to be glad”). Displaced native Middle English schewere, schawere, from Old English sċēawere (“mirror”, literally “watcher”), which was also the word for "spy."

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪ.ɹə/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmiɹ.ɚ/, /ˈmɪɹ.ɚ/, /ˈmɪɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈmə.ɹa/
• Homophone: mere (some accents)
• Rhymes: -ɪɹə(ɹ), -ɪə(ɹ), -ɪəɹə(ɹ)

Noun

mirror (plural mirrors)

1. A smooth surface, usually made of glass with reflective material painted on the underside, that reflects light so as to give an image of what is in front of it.

   I had a look in the mirror to see if the blood had come off my face.

   We could see the lorry in the mirror, so decided to change lanes.

2. (figuratively) An object, person, or event that reflects or gives a picture of another.

   His story is a mirror into the life of orphans growing up.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     O goddess, heavenly bright,
     Mirror of grace and majesty divine.

3. (computing, Internet) A disk, website or other resource that contains replicated data.

   Although the content had been deleted from his blog, it was still found on some mirrors.

4. A mirror carp.
5. (historical) A kind of political self-help book, advising kings, princes, etc. on how to behave.

Synonyms

• (reflecting surface): glass (old-fashioned), looking-glass (old-fashioned)

Hyponyms

• acoustic mirror
• black mirror
• Bragg mirror
• burning mirror
• Chinese magic mirror
• conjugate mirror
• distorting mirror
• dressing mirror
• fold mirror
• funhouse mirror
• half-silvered mirror
• handmirror
• ion mirror
• liquid mirror
• magic mirror
• magnetic mirror
• milk mirror
• moon mirror
• one-way mirror
• parabolic mirror
• plane mirror
• rear-view mirror
• rearview mirror
• rear-vision mirror
• rear vision mirror
• side mirror
• side-view mirror
• skinny mirror
• sound mirror
• spherical mirror
• submirror
• trumeau mirror
• two-way mirror
• wing mirror

 

Derived terms

Terms derived from mirror (noun)

• bemirror
• clear as a mirror
• do with mirrors
• hold a mirror to
• hold a mirror up to
• hold up a mirror to
• liquid mirror telescope
• look at oneself in the mirror
• man in the mirror
• metamirror
• micromirror
• mirrorable
• mirror armor
• mirror armour
• mirror ball
• mirror canon
• mirror fugue
• mirrorful
• mirror image
• mirror-image twin
• mirrorize
• mirrorless
• mirrorless
• mirror-like
• mirrorlike
• mirror match
• mirror matter
• mirror neuron
• mirror punishment
• mirrorscope
• mirrorshades
• mirror stage
• mirror symmetry
• mirror syndrome
• mirror test
• mirror theory
• mirrortocracy
• mirrortree
• mirror twin
• Mirrorverse
• mirror will
• mirrorwise
• mirrorwork
• mirrory
• mismirror
• mouth mirror
• multimirror
• nanomirror
• pentamirror
• remirror
• supermirror
• unmirrored

 

Translations

smooth reflecting surface

• Abaza: гӏвыга (ʻʷəga)
• Abenaki: ^{(please verify)} pipinaojakwôgan
• Abkhaz: асаркьа (asarkʲʼa)
• Adyghe: гъунджэ (ğʷundžɛ), гъуджэ (ğʷudžɛ)
• Afrikaans: spieël
• Aghwan: 𐕘𐕒𐕡𐕎 (ġun)
• Akkadian: 𒃻𒋗𒌓𒅗𒁇 (mušālu)
• Aklanon: saeaming
• Alabama: aayanchahka istililhicha, aayanchahka
• Albanian: pasqyrë (sq) f, shofkë (sq) f
• Amharic: መስታዎት (mästawot)
• Arabic: مِرْآة (ar) f (mirʔāh)

  Egyptian Arabic: مراية f (mirāya)

  Hijazi Arabic: مِرَايَة f (mirāya)

  Moroccan Arabic: مراية f (mrāya)

• Aragonese: mirallo m
• Armenian: հայելի (hy) (hayeli)
• Assamese: দাপোণ n (dapün), আইনা n (aina)
• Asturian: espeyu (ast) m
• Atong (India): aina
• Avar: матӏу (matʼu)
• Aymara: lirpu
• Azerbaijani: güzgü (az)
• Baluchi: آدینک (adí̃k)
• Banjarese: caramin
• Bashkir: көҙгө (köźgö)
• Basque: ispilu
• Belarusian: люстэ́рка (be) n (ljustérka), лю́стра n (ljústra), зярца́ла n (zjarcála) (archaic or ecclesiastic)
• Bengali: আয়না (bn) (aẏna), আরশি (bn) (arśi), দর্পণ (bn) (dorpon)
• Bikol Central: salming (bcl)
• Bislama: mira
• Breton: melezour (br) m, milouer m
• Brunei Malay: caramin
• Bulgarian: огледа́ло (bg) n (ogledálo)
• Burmese: ကြေးမုံ (my) (kre:mum), မှန် (my) (hman)
• Buryat: гэрэл (gerel)
• Carpathian Rusyn: зеркало n (zerkalo)
• Catalan: mirall (ca) m, espill (ca) m
• Cebuano: samin
• Chamorro: espehos
• Chayuco Mixtec: ino
• Chechen: куьзга (küzga)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏓᎨᏗ (adagedi), ᏓᏎᏘ (daseti)
• Cheyenne: amôhóomâhtsestôtse
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 鏡／镜 (geng³)

  Dungan: җинзы (žinzɨ)

  Eastern Min: 鏡／镜 (giáng)

  Gan: 鏡子／镜子 (jiang⁴ zi)

  Hakka: 鏡仔／镜仔 (kiang-é)

  Hokkien: 鏡／镜 (kiàⁿ)

  Jin: 鏡子／镜子 (jing³ zeh)

  Mandarin: 鏡子／镜子 (zh) (jìngzi), 鑒／鉴 (zh) (jiàn) (bronze mirror)

  Northern Min: 鏡／镜 (gia̿ng)

  Wu: 鏡子／镜子 (²jin-tsr)

  Xiang: 鏡子／镜子 (jin⁴ zr)

• Chukchi: виилгитэнэӈ (viilgitėnėṇ)
• Chuvash: тӗкӗр (tĕk̬ĕr)
• Classical Syriac: ܡܚܙܝܬܐ f (maḥzīṯā)
• Cornish: mirour m
• Corsican: spechju m, specchiu m
• Cree: ᐘᐱᒧᐣ (wapimon), ᐚᐸᒧᐣ (waapamon)
• Crimean Tatar: küzgü
• Czech: zrcadlo (cs) n, zrcátko (cs) n
• Danish: spejl (da) n
• Daur: jinzi
• Dhivehi: މޫނުބަލާ ލޯގަނޑު (mūnubalā lōgaⁿḍu), ލޯގަނޑު (lōgaⁿḍu)
• Dutch: spiegel (nl)
• East Yugur: tooli
• Emilian: spèc' m (Bolognese)
• Erzya: чавачамо (čavačamo), чамавачамо (čamavačamo), чамаванома (čamavanoma)
• Esperanto: spegulo (eo)
• Estonian: peegel (et)
• Even: кёйэлчидивун (kjojəlciʒiwun)
• Evenki: ханячӯвка̄ (haņaçūwkā)
• Extremaduran: ehpehu m
• Fala: espellu, ispellu
• Faroese: spegil m
• Finnish: peili (fi), kuvastin (fi) (dated)
• French: glace (fr) f, miroir (fr) m
• Friulian: spieli m
• Fula:

  Adlam: 𞤲𞥋𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤪𞤮𞤪𞤺𞤢𞤤, 𞤼𞤭𞤲𞤼𞤮𞤪𞤺𞤢𞤤

  Latin: ndaarorgal, tintorgal

• Gagauz: ayna
• Galician: espello (gl) m
• Georgian: სარკე (sarḳe)
• German: Spiegel (de) m
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌰 m (skuggwa)
• Greek: καθρέφτης (el) m (kathréftis)

  Ancient: κάτοπτρον n (kátoptron), εἴσοπτρον n (eísoptron)

• Greenlandic: tarrarsuut
• Guaraní: itagecha
• Gujarati: દર્પણ n (darpaṇ), અરીસો m (arīso)
• Haitian Creole: miwa, glas
• Hausa: madubi (ha), boka, matsokaci
• Hawaiian: aniani
• Hebrew: מַרְאָה (he) f (mar'á), רְאִי (he) m (re'í)
• Hindi: दर्पण (hi) m (darpaṇ), शीशा (hi) m (śīśā), आईना (hi) m (āīnā), आरसी (hi) f (ārsī)
• Hungarian: tükör (hu)
• Hupdë: mɔyə̌k
• Iban: cheremin
• Icelandic: spegill (is) m
• Ido: spegulo (io)
• Igbo: enyo (ig)
• Ilocano: sarming
• Indonesian: cermin (id)
• Ingrian: speili
• Ingush: кизга (kizga)
• Interlingua: spéculo
• Inuktitut: ᑕᖅᕋᑑᑎ (taqratooti)
• Inupiaq: taġġaqtuun
• Irish: scáthán (ga) m
• Italian: specchio (it) m
• Japanese: 鏡 (ja) (かがみ, kagami), 姿見 (すがたみ, sugatami) (large and long one)
• Javanese: ꦥꦼꦔꦶꦭꦺꦴꦤ꧀ (jv) (pengilon)
• Jurchen:  (*bunə-ku)
• Kabyle: ⵜⴰⵎⵔⴰⵢⵜ (tamrayt)
• Kalmyk: толь (tolʹ)
• Kannada: ಕನ್ನಡಿ (kn) (kannaḍi)
• Karachay-Balkar: кюзгю (küzgü)
• Karelian: zirkalo
• Kashubian: zdrzadło n, zwiercadło n, szpédżel m
• Kazakh: айна (aina)

  Arabic: اينا

• Khakas: кӧріндес
• Khmer: កញ្ចក់ (km) (kɑñcɑk)
• Komi-Zyrian: видзӧдчан (vidźödćan), рӧмпӧштан (römpöštan)
• Kongo: talatala
• Konkani: कान्नडि (kānnaḍi)
• Korean: 거울 (ko) (geoul)
• Kumyk: гюзгю (güzgü)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئاوێنە (awêne)

  Northern Kurdish: neynik (ku), awêne (ku), eyne (ku)

• Kyrgyz: күзгү (ky) (küzgü)
• Ladin: spidl
• Lao: ແວ່ນ (lo) (wǣn), ກະຈົກ (lo) (ka chok) (rare)
• Latin: speculum (la) n
• Latvian: spogulis (lv) m
• Laz: ჲალი (yali)
• Lezgi: гуьзгуь (güzgü)
• Ligurian: spêgio m
• Limburgish: spegel (li) m, sjpegel m
• Lingala: talatála
• Lithuanian: veidrodis (lt) m
• Lombard: spècc m, spèc m
• Louisiana Creole French: mirwar
• Low German: Spegel m
• Lü: ᦶᦞᧃᧈ (vaen¹), ᦶᦞᧃᧈᦶᦍᧂ (vaen¹yaeng)
• Luxembourgish: Spigel m
• Macedonian: огледало n (ogledalo), ѕрцало n (dzrcalo) (archaic or dialectal)
• Maguindanao: sermin
• Malagasy: fitaratra (mg)
• Malay: cermin (ms)
• Malayalam: കണ്ണാടി (ml) (kaṇṇāṭi)
• Maltese: mera f
• Manchu: ᠪᡠᠯᡝᡴᡠ (buleku)
• Manx: scaane
• Maori: karaehe (mi), karaihe
• Mapudungun: komütuwe
• Marathi: आरसा (ārsā)
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: воштончыш (voštončyš), тӹгыр (tÿgyr)

• Middle Korean: 거우〮루 (kè(G)wúlwù)
• Mirandese: speilho m
• Moksha: ва́нома (vánoma)
• Mongghul: xal
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: толь (mn) (tolʹ)

  Mongolian: ᠲᠣᠯᠢ (toli)

• Nahuatl: tezcatl (nah)
• Neapolitan: specchio m
• Nepali: ऐना (ne) (ainā)
• Nganasan: хорә ӈәтәубса (horĕ ngĕtĕubsa)
• Nogai: бияла (biyala)
• Norman: mitheux m
• North Frisian: späägel
• Northern Sami: speadjal, speajal
• Northern Sotho: seipônê
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: speil (no) n

  Nynorsk: spegel m, skuggsjå n

• Occitan: miralh (oc) m, espelh m
• Odia: ଆଇନା (aina)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: зрьцало n (zrĭcalo)

• Old English: sċēawere m
• Old Ruthenian: зеркало n (zerkalo)
• Ossetian: айдӕн (ajdæn), кӕсӕн (kæsæn)
• Ottawa: waawaabmowin
• Ottoman Turkish: گوزگی (gözgü), آینه (ayna), مرآت (mirʾat)
• Papiamentu: spil
• Pashto: اينداره (eindara), هنداره (hendara), آينه (ps) f (āyna), کيښه f (kix̌a)
• Persian:

  Dari: آیِینَه (fa) (āyīna), آبْگِینَه (fa) (ābgīna), مِرْآت (fa) (mir'āt)

  Iranian Persian: آیینِه (fa) (âyine), آبْگینِه (fa) (âbgine), مِرْآت (fa) (mer'ât)

• Piedmontese: miraj, specc
• Plautdietsch: Spieejel m
• Polabian: zarḱódlü n
• Polish: lustro (pl) n, zwierciadło (pl) n
• Portuguese: espelho (pt) m
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਸ਼ੀਸ਼ਾ (pa) m (śīśā), ਦਰਪਣ m (darpaṇ), ਆਈਨਾ (pa) m (āīnā)

• Quechua: rirpu
• Rohingya: aina, ana
• Romanian: oglindă (ro) f
• Romansch: spievel m, spieghel m, spejel m
• Russian: зе́ркало (ru) n (zérkalo), зерца́ло (ru) n (zercálo) (archaic or ecclesiastic)
• Rwanda-Rundi: indorerwamo class 9/10 (Rwanda); ikiyo, icirori (Rundi)
• Sami:

  Kildin: зе̄ркал (zierkal)

  Kola: зеркал, кыффкэмкāррь

  Northern: speadjal

• Samoan: ^{(please verify)} aisa, ^{(please verify)} fāʻata
• Samogitian: zelkorios
• Sango: tatala
• Sanskrit: दर्पण (sa) m (darpaṇa)
• Santali: ᱟᱹᱨᱥᱤ (ărsi)
• Sardinian: ipíciu m

  Campidanese: sprigu m

  Logudorese: ispregu m, isprigu m

  Nuorese: isprecu m, ispricu m

• Scots: seein-gless, mirrour
• Scottish Gaelic: sgàthan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: оглѐдало n, зр̀цало n

  Roman: oglèdalo (sh) n, zr̀calo (sh) n

• Shan: ၸမ်ႈ (shn) (tsām)
• Sherpa: गेलुङ (gelung)
• Shona: chiringiro
• Shor: кӱзеген (küzegen)
• Shuswap: ts̓exmín
• Sicilian: specchiu (scn) m
• Silesian: zdřaduo n, špigel m
• Sinhalese: ආදාසය (ādāsaya)
• Slovak: zrkadlo n, zrkadielko n
• Slovene: ogledalo (sl) n, zrcálo n
• Somali: muraayad f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: glědałko n, glědałcycko n

  Upper Sorbian: špihel m

• Sotho: seipone (st)
• Southern Altai: кӱскӱ (küskü), кӧрӱнгӱш (körüngüš), кӧрнӧш (körnöš)
• Southern Pomo: huʔ:uy ča:duč̓i:ya:liwi
• Southern Sami: guelmiedahke
• Spanish: espejo (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: spikri
• Swahili: kioo (sw) class 7
• Swedish: spegel (sv)
• Sylheti: please add this translation if you can
• Tabaru: kasinaa
• Tabasaran: гюзги (gjuzgi)
• Tagalog: salamin espeho, panganinuhan, salamin
• Tahitian: hiʻo
• Tajik: оина (tg) (oyina), обгина (obgina), миръот (mirʾot)
• Tamil: கண்ணாடி (ta) (kaṇṇāṭi), ஆடி (ta) (āṭi)
• Tarifit: tisit f
• Tat: гузги
• Tatar: көзге (tt) (közge)
• Telugu: అద్దము (te) (addamu), అద్దం (te) (addaṁ)
• Ternate: kasna
• Thai: กระจก (th) (grà-jòk), กระจกเงา (th) (grà-jòk-ngao)
• Tibetan: ཤེས་སྒོ (shes sgo), མེ་ལོང (me long), མཐོང་ཤེལ (mthong shel), གདོང་ཤེལ (gdong shel), ཤེལ་ཀོ (shel ko)
• Tidore: kasna
• Tigrinya: መስትያት (mästəyat)
• Tocharian B: tapākye
• Tundra Nenets: сядобэрць’ (syadobercʹ’), сядобэрць’н (syadobercʹ’n°)
• Turkish: ayna (tr), gözgü (tr)(archaic), mirat (tr) (obsolete)
• Turkmen: aýna (tk)
• Tuvan: көрүнчүк (körünçük)
• Udmurt: синучкон (śinućkon), зеркал (źerkal)
• Ukrainian: дзе́ркало (uk) n (dzérkalo), зерца́ло n (zercálo) (ecclesiastic)
• Urdu: آئِینَہ (ur) m (āīna), شِیشَہ m (śīśa), دَرْپَن m (darpan), مِرآت m (mir'āt), آبْگِینَہ (ur) m (ābgīna)
• Uyghur: كۆزگۈ (közgü), ئەينەك (ug) (eynek)
• Uzbek: koʻzgu (uz), oyna (uz)
• Venetian: spècio m
• Veps: zerkol
• Vietnamese: gương (vi), kiếng (vi), kính (vi)
• Vilamovian: śpigel m
• Volapük: lok (vo), (diminutive) lokil
• Võro: piigli, var'okaehtus
• Votic: špeili
• Walloon: muroe (wa) m, glaece (wa) f
• Waray-Waray: espeho
• Welsh: drych (cy) m
• West Frisian: spegel
• White Hmong: tsom iav
• Wolof: seetu (wo)
• Xhosa: isipili
• Yagnobi: оҳина (ohina)
• Yakut: сиэркилэ (sierkile)
• Yiddish: שפּיגל m (shpigl)
• Yoruba: díngí
• Yucatec Maya: néen
• Yurok: chpeesher'erhl
• Zhuang: gingq
• Zulu: isibuko class 7/8

computing: exact copy of a data set

• Catalan: còpia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鏡像／镜像 (zh) (jìngxiàng)

• Esperanto: spegulo (eo)
• Finnish: peili (fi), peilikopio, kopio (fi)
• French: copie (fr) f
• German: Kopie (de) f
• Greek: αναπαράσταση (el) f (anaparástasi), αντίγραφο (el) n (antígrafo)
• Hungarian: tükrözés (hu)
• Italian: copia speculare f
• Luxembourgish: Kopie f
• Macedonian: дуплика́т m (duplikát)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: speil (no) n

  Nynorsk: spegel m

• Portuguese: cópia (pt) f
• Russian: дублика́т (ru) m (dublikát), ко́пия (ru) f (kópija)
• Thai: กระจก (th) (grà-jòk)

Verb

mirror (third-person singular simple present mirrors, present participle mirroring, simple past and past participle mirrored)

1. (transitive) Of an event, activity, behaviour, etc, to be identical to; to be a copy of.

   He tried to mirror Elvis's life. He copied his fashion and his mannerisms, and he even went to live in Graceland.

2. (computing, transitive) To create something identical to (a web site, etc.).
3. (transitive) To reflect, as in a mirror.

Translations

of an event, activity, behaviour; to be identical to, be a copy of, to reflect

• Bulgarian: отразявам (bg) (otrazjavam)
• Catalan: duplicar (ca), copiar (ca)
• Finnish: kuvastaa (fi)
• Hungarian: utánoz (hu)
• Icelandic: spegla
• Macedonian: одразува (odrazuva), отсликува (otslikuva)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: speile (no)

• Portuguese: espelhar (pt)
• Turkish: taklit etmek (tr), kopyalamak (tr), yansıtmak (tr) (figurative)

(computing) to create something identical to (a web site, etc.)

• Hungarian: tükröz (hu)

to reflect, as in a mirror

• Bulgarian: отразявам се (otrazjavam se)
• French: refléter (fr)
• Hungarian: tükröz (hu)
• Portuguese: espelhar (pt)
• Telugu: దర్పణంపట్టు (darpaṇampaṭṭu)
• Ukrainian: віддзерка́лювати impf (viddzerkáljuvaty), віддзерка́лити pf (viddzerkályty)

See also

• cheval glass
• looking glass