Milse

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To be merciful to; show clemency to; pardon. obsolete, transitive

Etymology

From Middle English milsen, milcen, milcien, from Old English miltsian (“to compassionate, pity, show mercy, soften, make merciful”), from Proto-Germanic *mildisjō (“kindness”), from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz (“mild”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“to beat, grind”). Related to Old English milts (“mercy, compassion, benevolence, kindness, favor, joy”), Old English milde (“mild, merciful, kind, generous, gentle, meek”). More at mild.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.