Mishmash
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A collection containing a variety of miscellaneous things.
"As for Mr. Pynchon’s conjuring of millennial New York, it’s a total mishmash."
- 2 a motley assortment of things wordnet
- 1 To mix together, especially in a confused way. transitive
- 2 To become mixed together. intransitive
Example
More examples"Japanese use a lot of sinograms. Many sinograms have a categorizing radical along with a phonetic hint radical, historically for Chinese. Sometimes, Japanese borrow a sinogram and pronounce it with a Japanese native reading, so the original Chinese historicity becomes semi-irrelevant. In a way, Japanese writing is a real mishmash."
Etymology
Attested since the late 15th century, Middle English mysse masche, probably a reduplication of mash, although a Yiddish origin or influence has also been suggested. Cognates include Saterland Frisian Miskmask and German Mischmasch.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.