mêler

From Middle French mesler, mescler, from Old French mesler, meller, *mescler (“to mingle, mix up”), from Vulgar Latin *misc(u)lāre, present active infinitive of *misc(u)lō, from Latin misceō. Compare Italian mischiare, Occitan and Catalan mesclar, Spanish mezclar. More at mix.

• IPA^(key): /mɛ.le/, /me.le/

• Audio

  (file)

mêler

1. (transitive) to mix
   • 1869, Paul Verlaine, Clair de lune [Moonlight]‎:

     Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune, / Au calme clair de lune triste et beau, / Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres / Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau, / Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.

     And their song blends with the moonlight, / With the sad and beautiful moonlight, / Which sets the birds in the trees dreaming, / And makes the fountains sob with ecstasy, / The tall slim water streams among the marble statues.

2. (reflexive, followed by the preposition de) to meddle in, to interfere in, to get mixed up in
3. (card games) to shuffle

• Mêler may take a direct object that indicates multiple things being mixed together; or, it may take a direct object that indicates a single thing being mixed into another thing, as well as an object with a preposition, such as avec (“with”), à (“to”), dans (“in, into”), parmi (“among”), de (“of”), that indicates the thing it is being mixed into.

• mélanger

• de quoi je me mêle
• se mêler de ses affaires
• se mêler de ses oignons

• mélange
• mêlée

• métis

• “mêler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• “mêler”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• merle, Merle

From Old French mesler, *mescler (“to mingle, mix up”), from Vulgar Latin *misc(u)lō, misc(u)lāre, from Latin misceō.

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

mêler (gerund mêl'lie)

1. (Jersey) to mix