Word Origin & History
mix1530s, back-formation from M.E. myxte (late 15c.), from Anglo-Fr. mixte, from L. mixtus, pp. of miscere "to mix," from PIE *meik- "to mix" (cf. Skt. misrah "mixed," Gk. misgein "to mix, mingle," O.C.S. meso, mesiti "to mix," Rus. meshat, Lith. maisau "to mix, mingle," Welsh mysgu). Also borrowed in O.E.
as miscian. The noun is attested from 1580s. Mixed marriage is from 1698 (originally in a religious context; racial sense was in use by 1942 in U.S., though mixed breed in ref. to mulattoes is found by 1775). Mixed bag "heterogeneous collection" is from 1936. Mixed up "confused" is from 1862; mix-up "confusion" first recorded 1898.