Mouse
/maʊs/noun
A small rodent with a pointed snout, rounded ears, and a long tail.
Did you know?English mouse comes from a prehistoric Indo-European root *mus- that also gave Latin mus, showing this tiny creature was named so early that its word spread across entire language families.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*mus-
“mouse”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*musō
“mouse”
Old English
OE
mūs
“mouse”
Middle English
ME
mous
“mouse”
Modern English
English
mouse
“mouse; later also a computer pointing device”