Mirage

How to spell mirage

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mirage

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mirage mean?

1. nounAn optical illusion, often of water or a distant scene, caused by light bending through layers of air at different temperatures.
2. nounSomething that appears real or attainable but proves to be an illusion or false hope.

Mirage in a sentence

• The shimmering pool ahead on the hot motorway turned out to be a mirage.

• The promised promotion proved to be a mirage that kept receding every quarter.

• Travellers crossing the desert often chase a distant mirage that never gets closer.

• Early retirement felt like a mirage once the mortgage payments rose.

Where does mirage come from?

Language of origin: French

Mirage comes directly from French, where it is the noun formed from the verb se mirer, meaning 'to be reflected' or 'to look at oneself in a mirror'. That verb traces back to the Latin mirari, which meant 'to wonder at' or 'to gaze in astonishment', and ultimately to mirus, meaning 'wonderful' or 'strange'. The same Latin root sits behind a whole family of English words such as mirror, miracle, admire and marvel, all of which carry an echo of looking and wondering. The word entered English in the early nineteenth century, around 1800, to name the optical illusion in which hot air bends light so that the sky or distant water appears to shimmer on the ground. The soft -age ending and the silent feel of the French pronunciation are exactly what trip up writers, since the spelling preserves the original French shape rather than anything phonetic in English.

How the word is built

• mir- (from Latin mirari: to wonder at, look at)
• -age (French noun suffix)