mime
English
Etymology
Possibly from Middle English *mime, from Old English mīma (“a buffoon, jester, mime”), from Latin mimus, from Ancient Greek μῖμος (mîmos, “imitator, actor”), but more likely re-borrowed in modern times from French mime (“mimic actor”), from the same source.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maɪm/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪm
Noun
mime (countable and uncountable, plural mimes)
- A form of acting without words; pantomime.
- 1977 April 23, Arlene Silva, “Suzanne Fox's Silent Stories”, in Gay Community News, page 10:
- [Silence] demands returning to the self, to innocence and a a portrayal of situations as if all the particulars were completely unknown to the viewer. There are no props but the muscular versatility of the human form. Mime is the one thing that truly proves we can be all things.
- A pantomime actor.
- A classical theatrical entertainment in the form of farce.
- A performer of such a farce.
- A person who mimics others in a comical manner.
- Any of various papilionid butterflies of the genus Chilasa or Papilio, that mimic other species in appearance.
- A unit of imitation in the theory of symbiosism.
Related terms
Translations
pantomime
|
pantomime actor
|
classical theatrical entertainment
performer of such a farce
person who mimics others in a comical manner
|
Verb
mime (third-person singular simple present mimes, present participle miming, simple past and past participle mimed)
- To mimic.
- (intransitive) To act without words.
- To represent an action or object through gesture, without the use of sound.
- In this game, you're given a word, which you have to mime to the others in the group.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:imitate
See also
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mim/
- Rhymes: -im
Etymology 1
From Latin mimus, from Ancient Greek μῖμος (mîmos).
Derived terms
Verb
mime
- inflection of mimer:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- “mime”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
German
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
mime
- inflection of mimen:
- first-person singular present
- first/third-person singular subjunctive I
- singular imperative
Latin
Portuguese
Spanish
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