Mirrored

How to spell mirrored

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mirrored

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mirrored mean?

1. verbReflected an image, or closely copied or matched something.
2. adjectiveHaving a reflective, mirror-like surface or arrangement.

Mirrored in a sentence

• verb

  The still lake mirrored the surrounding hills at sunrise.

• adjective

  The gym featured mirrored walls along one entire side.

• verb

  Her later report mirrored the conclusions of the original study.

• adjective

  The building's mirrored glass reflected the whole street.

Where does mirrored come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built on the noun and verb 'mirror', which English took from Old French 'mirour' in the 1200s. That French word descends from the Latin verb 'mirare', a variant of 'mirari', meaning 'to wonder at' or 'to gaze at in admiration', from the root 'mirus' meaning 'wonderful' or 'astonishing'. A mirror was therefore literally a thing one looks at and marvels in, and the same Latin root surfaces in everyday English relatives such as 'admire', 'miracle' and 'marvel'. The verb 'to mirror', meaning to reflect or to copy faithfully, developed later from the noun, and 'mirrored' is simply its regular past tense and past participle, formed by adding '-ed'. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the doubled 'r' of 'mirror' carries straight through, and the unstressed final syllable can tempt writers to drop a letter or muddle the ending.

How the word is built

• mirror (from Latin mirari: to wonder at, look at)
• -ed (past tense / adjective suffix)