mil
/mɪl/noun, adjective
mil is spelled M-I-L: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 5.5 times per million words in written English, the 10,519th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Mil, the name). People search “mil vs mill” about 20 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, mil means “An angular mil, a unit of angular measurement equal to ¹⁄₆₄₀₀ of a complete circle. At 1000 metres one mil subtends about one metre (0.98 m). Also…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mil is mils.
How many letters and syllables are in mil?
| Letters | 3: M-I-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.5 times per million words; the 10,519th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is mil?
Mil appears 5.5 times per million words in written English, the 10,519th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Mil, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mil?
- /mɪl/
Mil has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-mil.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with mil
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: mill (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: mill.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of mil
- mils plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mil mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An angular mil, a unit of angular measurement equal to ¹⁄₆₄₀₀ of a complete circle. At 1000 metres one mil subtends about one metre (0.98 m). Also ¹⁄₆₀₀₀ and ¹⁄₆₃₀₀ are used in other countries.
- 2
A unit of measurement equal to ¹⁄₁₀₀₀ of an inch (25.4 µm), usually used for thin objects, such as sheets of plastic.
For this task, I prefer the plastic sheeting that is 10 mils thick.
- 3
A former subdivision (¹⁄₁₀₀₀) of the Maltese lira.
- 4
informalClipping of milliliter.
We told her to give her daughter ten mils of cough syrup and to call us back if the cough gets worse.
- 5
informalClipping of millimeter.
For this task, I prefer the plastic bars that are 10 mils in diameter.
- 6
informalClipping of milliradian.
A dot in a mil-dot reticle represents one mil, which corresponds to a few inches at 100 yards.
- 7
informalClipping of million.
Word has it that they were offered a cool ten mil to sell their farm to the land developers.
noun
- 1
Initialism of mother-in-law.
- 2
Initialism of malfunction indicator lamp.
adjective
- 1
Clipping of military
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mil in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense angular mil:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does mil come from?
Ultimately from Latin millesimum. The clippings come by way of the clipped words (e.g., millilitre, millimetre, milliradian). The metric units come about via clipping of translingual milli- (“SI prefix”)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).