mis-

{{11}}mis- (1) prefix meaning "bad, wrong," from O.E. mis-, from P.Gmc. *missa- "divergent, astray" (Cf. O.Fris., O.S. mis-, M.Du. misse-, O.H.G. missa-, Ger. miß-, O.N. mis-, Goth. missa-), perhaps lit. "in a changed manner," and with a root sense of "difference, change" (Cf. Goth. misso "mutually"), and thus from PIE *mit-to-, from root *mei- "to change" (see MUTABLE (Cf. mutable)); Cf. Watkins. Others [Barnhart] see in P.Gmc. *missa- the stem of an ancient past participle, related to O.E. missan "fail to hit" (see MISS (Cf. miss) (v.)), which is from the same PIE root.

Productive as word-forming element in Old English (e.g. mislæran "to give bad advice, teach amiss"). In 14c.-16c. in a few verbs its sense began to be felt as "unfavorably" and was used as an intensive prefix with verbs already expressing negative feeling (e.g. misdoubt). Practically a separate word in Old and early Middle English (and often written as such). Old English also had an adjective (mislic "diverse, unlike, various") and an adverb (mislice "in various directions, wrongly, astray") derived from it, corresponding to Ger. misslich (adj.).

{{12}}mis- (2) in MISCHIEF (Cf. mischief), MISCREANT (Cf. miscreant), etc., represents O.Fr. mes- "bad, badly, wrong, wrongly," from V.L. minus-, from L. minus "less" (see MINUS (Cf. minus)), which was not used as a prefix. Perhaps influenced in Old French by *miss-, the Frankish equivalent of MIS- (Cf. mis-) (1).