Mixer

How to spell mixer

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mixer

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mixer mean?

1. nounAn electric machine that beats, whips, or blends food ingredients together.
2. nounAn informal social event arranged so that people can meet and mingle.
3. nounA non-alcoholic beverage such as tonic or soda added to a spirit.
4. nounAn electronic console used to combine and balance separate audio signals.

Mixer in a sentence

• She creamed the butter and sugar using a stand mixer.

• The company held a mixer to help new staff meet their colleagues.

• He bought tonic water and a few other mixer options for the party.

• The sound engineer adjusted each channel on the mixer before the show.

• The hand mixer made quick work of the cake batter.

• Freshers attended a welcome mixer in the student union.

Where does mixer come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word grows from the verb 'mix', which entered English in the late 1400s and ultimately traces back to the Latin 'miscere', meaning 'to blend or mingle together'. Latin 'miscere' also gave us 'miscellaneous' and 'promiscuous', so the family is all about things being stirred up with one another. The agent suffix '-er', a very old Germanic ending that turns a verb into 'the thing or person that does it', was attached to make 'mixer', literally 'something that mixes'. From the late nineteenth century the word named mechanical blending devices, and in the twentieth century it stretched to mean a social gathering where people mingle, a non-alcoholic drink combined with spirits, and the audio desk that blends sound channels. Because the spelling simply joins 'mix' and '-er' with no doubled letters or silent traps, it stays phonetically straightforward.

How the word is built

• mix (to blend)
• -er (agent/instrument suffix: thing or person that does it)