Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

might

[mɐɪt]

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.66 in modern English

Syllables
might
IPA
[mɐɪt]
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Power, strength, force, or influence held by a person or group.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

Physical strength or force.

Uncountable

noun

The ability to do something.

Uncountable

adj

Mighty; powerful.

Obsolete

adj

Possible.

Obsolete

verb

simple past of may

verb

simple past of may

Example Sentences

Etymology

From Middle English maught, might, miȝt, myght, from Old English maht, meaht, meht, mieht, miht, mæht (“ability, power; strength; virtue”), from Proto-West Germanic *mahti, from Proto-Germanic *mahtiz (“ability, power; force, strength”), from Proto-Indo-European *(me)mógʰe (“to be able to, to have power”), from *megʰ- (“to be able”), corresponding to Germanic *maganą (“to be able, may”) + *-þiz. Equivalent to may + -th. Cognates Cognate with Scots micht (“might”), Yola mought (“might”), Dutch macht (“might, power”), German Macht (“might, power”), Luxembourgish Muecht (“authority, might, power”), Yiddish מאַכט (makht, “might, power”), Faroese and Icelandic máttur (“might, strength”), Danish magt (“power; force”), Norwegian Bokmål makt (“power”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish makt (“power; force”), mått (“might, power”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (mahts, “ability, might, power”), and further to Irish smacht (“ordinance, regulation, rule; dominion, sway; control, discipline, restraint; fine, penalty”), Greek μάγος (mágos, “magician; sorcerer, wizard”), Lithuanian mėgti (“to like”), Belarusian моц (moc, “might, power”), Bulgarian мощ (mošt, “might, power”), Czech and Polish moc (“might, power”), Macedonian моќ (moḱ, “might, power”), Russian мочь (močʹ, “power, might”) and мощь (moščʹ, “force, strength”), Serbo-Croatian мо̑ћ, mȏć (“power; strength; potency; authority”), Slovene moč (“power; strength”), Ukrainian міч (mič) and міць (micʹ, “might, power”), Armenian մոգ (mog, “magus; fire-worshiper, Zoroastrian; astrologer; diviner, enchanter, sorcerer, wizard”), Persian مغ (moġ, “magus”), Sanskrit मघ (magha, “power, wealth; bounty, gift, reward”). See more at may.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: *megʰ-, maught, maht, *mahti, *mahtiz, *(me)mógʰe
  • Suffix: -th

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: [mɐɪt]
  • British English: [maɪt]

Usage

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Synonyms

Homonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce might?
The recorded pronunciation is [mɐɪt].
What does might mean?
Power, strength, force, or influence held by a person or group.
Where does might come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce might

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “might”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling ([mɐɪt]) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “might”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “might” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.