mile en · NOUN
Pronunciation
Etymology
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”)).
Meanings
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The international mile: a unit of length precisely equal to 1.609344 kilometers established by treaty among Anglophone nations in 1959, divided into 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards.
Turn left in 1.2 miles.
You need to go about three mile down the road.
3.6 km is about 2 miles.
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Any of several customary units of length derived from the 1593 English statute mile of 8 furlongs, equivalent to 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards of various precise values.
Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.
1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:Total activity levels in the lowest quartile were equivalent to walking for 49 minutes at roughly 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) per hour daily. Total activity levels in the second-, third- and fourth-highest quartiles were equivalent to 78, 105 and 160 minutes, respectively.
2024 November 15, Kristen Rogers, “Want to live an extra 5 to 10 years? Adopt this habit, study suggests”, in CNN, archived from the original on 11 Jul 2025:From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.[…] But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.
2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, archived from the original on 17 Oct 2021, page 52:Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.
1892, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate: A Novel, page 16:
- Any of many customary units of length derived from the Roman mile (mille passus) of 8 stades or 5,000 Roman feet.
- The Scandinavian mile: a unit of length precisely equal to 10 kilometers defined in 1889.
- Any of many customary units of length from other measurement systems of roughly similar values, as the Chinese mile or Arabic mile.
- An airline mile in a frequent flyer program.
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(informal) Any similarly large distance.
The shot missed by a mile.
My legs felt stiff and leaden from miles of walking.
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A race of 1 mile's length; a race of around 1 mile's length (usually 1500 or 1600 meters)
The runners competed in the mile.
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(colloquial) One mile per hour, as a measure of speed.
five miles over the speed limit
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(qualifier:usually in place names) A prominent road or street, often roughly a mile long.
I'm staying near millionaire's mile.
The Royal Mile in Edinburgh. The Millennium Mile (London). Magnificent Mile (Chicago).
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| mile | Number=Plur | UK, colloquial | lexicographic |
| miles | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
mile marker · mileway · Arab mile · Twelve Mile Creek · mile-fortlet · Seven Mile Beach · zero mile marker · ton-mile · Scots mile · miles of bad road · statute mile · Arabic mile · Scandinavian mile · Eighteen Mile · available seat-mile · route mile · Three Mile Island · geographical mile · Scottish mile · Square Mile · standing mile · Twelve Mile · in for an inch, in for a mile · Irish mile · run a mile · stick out a mile · half-mile · milestone · survey mile · One Mile · seat-mile · mile a minute · miles gloriosus · give them an inch and they'll take a mile · Chinese mile · second-mile service · Italian mile · Eight Mile Creek · passenger mile · Ten Mile Hollow · sea mile · Ten Mile Bank · plane mile · Twelve Mile Lake · milewide · the whole nine miles · food miles · Eighty Mile Beach · first mile · square mile · Twelve Mile Peg · miles away · light-mile · quarter-mile · Six Mile Swamp · traffic mile · nautical mile · a mile away · Four Mile Creek · Seventy Mile · go the extra mile · middle mile · train mile · milelong · metric mile · a miss is as good as a mile · Six Mile Bottom · seatmile · a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step · give someone an inch and someone will take a mile · half a mile · Seventeen Mile · international mile · thousand-mile stare · measured mile · milometer · Curry Mile · Two Mile Flat · Arabian mile · geographic mile · Mile End · walk a mile in someone's shoes · Fifteen Mile · stand out a mile · Nine Mile · miracle mile · mile-a-minute · milemark · Swedish mile · Five Miles · talk a mile a minute · milepole · milecastle · negamile · country mile · Two Mile · beer mile · Forty Mile · bus mile · car mile · air mile · Seventeen Mile Rocks · Eight Mile Plains · ton mile · Six Mile · land mile · available ton mile · last mile · Roman mile · Imperial mile · kilomile · postmile · last mile school · a mile wide and an inch deep · Nine Mile Creek
Descendants
Relateds
mpg · mileage · miles per gallon · milepost · milestone
Translations (109)
nv tsinsitą́ (measure of length) · bn মাইল (measure of length) · bg въ́зел (informal: one mile per hour) · et miltsa (informal: large distance) · nrf mille (measure of length) · uz mil (measure of length) · fr nœud (informal: one mile per hour) · sl milja (measure of length) · he מִיל (measure of length) · ko 노트 (informal: one mile per hour) · el μίλι (measure of length) · nb mil (measure of length) · sh mȋlja (measure of length) · mk милја (measure of length) · fi maili (measure of length) · cy milltir (measure of length) · co migliu (measure of length) · de Meile (measure of length) · yue 哩 (measure of length) · tr mil (measure of length) · kw mildir (measure of length) · is míla (measure of length) · mn бээр (measure of length) · ru ми́ля (measure of length) · ur میل (measure of length) · cs míle (measure of length) · lv jūdze (measure of length) · yi מײַל (measure of length) · uk ми́ля (measure of length) · lt mylia (measure of length) · arz ميل (measure of length) · lb Meil (measure of length) · ro milă (measure of length) · be мі́ля (measure of length) · ru у́зел (informal: one mile per hour) · fi kilsa (km/h) (informal: one mile per hour) · id mil (measure of length) · cmn 英里 (measure of length) · sv engelsk mil (measure of length) · lo ໄມ (measure of length) · eo mejlo (measure of length) · kmr mîl (measure of length) · et kiltsa (informal: one mile per hour) · mfe mil (measure of length) · af myl (measure of length) · it miglio (measure of length) · fa مایل (measure of length) · ko 마일 (measure of length) · chr ᏑᏟᎶᏛ (measure of length) · nl mijl (measure of length) · th ไมล์ (measure of length) · az mil (measure of length) · et miil (measure of length) · tk mil (measure of length) · sq milje (measure of length) · gd mìle (measure of length) · ka მილი (measure of length) · sh ми̑ља (measure of length) · bg ми́ля (measure of length) · cmn 節 /节 (informal: one mile per hour) · ky миля (measure of length) · pdt Miel (measure of length) · mr मैल (measure of length) · mn миль (measure of length) · yo máìlì (measure of length) · fi maili (track race) · sv mil (measure of length) · tl milya (measure of length) · si සැතපුම් (measure of length) · nod ᨾᩱ (measure of length) · sk míľa (measure of length) · uz milya (measure of length) · sm maila (measure of length) · kk миля (measure of length) · pl mila (measure of length) · hy մղոն (measure of length) · ca milla (measure of length) · ms batu (measure of length) · ar مِيل (measure of length) · ga míle (measure of length) · hu mérföld (measure of length) · yue 咪 (measure of length) · ja ノット (informal: one mile per hour) · km មីល (measure of length) · ar عُقْدَة (informal: one mile per hour) · ps ميل (measure of length) · nan-hbl 英里 (measure of length) · fr mille (measure of length) · be ву́зел (informal: one mile per hour) · uk ву́зол (informal: one mile per hour) · hi मील (measure of length) · yue 英里 (measure of length) · bo མེ་ལེ (measure of length) · my မိုင် (measure of length) · tg мил (measure of length) · vi dặm (measure of length) · ja マイル (measure of length) · de Knoten (informal: one mile per hour) · yo ibùsọ̀ (measure of length) · et miltsa (informal: one mile per hour) · da mil (measure of length) · io milio (measure of length) · fi kilometri (informal: large distance) · ta மைல் (measure of length) · et kiltsa (informal: large distance) · vo liöl (measure of length) · es milla (measure of length) · twf mį̀yoʼóna (measure of length) · pt milha (measure of length)