mimic
/ˈmɪm.ɪk/verb, noun, adjective
mimic is spelled M-I-M-I-C. The wrong spelling people search most is mimick: about 260 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 16 of all searches for the word. Mimic is a verb meaning “To imitate, especially in order to ridicule”.
How many letters and syllables are in mimic?
| Letters | 5: M-I-M-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.1 times per million words; the 15,146th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, mimick, about 260 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
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 do you spell mimic?
Mimic is spelled M-I-M-I-C. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 13 of the searches for mimic in either form.
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). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is mimic?
Mimic appears 3.1 times per million words in written English, the 15,146th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mimic?
- /ˈmɪm.ɪk/
Mimic has 2 syllables (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: En-us-mimic.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of mimic
- mimics present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- mimicking participle, present
- mimicked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mimic mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To imitate, especially in order to ridicule.
- 2
To take on the appearance of another, for protection or camouflage.
noun
- 1
A mime.
- 2
A comic who does impressions.
- 3
An entity that mimics another entity, such as a disease that resembles another disease in its signs and symptoms; see the great imitator.
- 4
An imitation.
- 5
A fictional monster able to disguise itself as an inanimate object, commonly a treasure chest, often with the intent of luring adventurers into a trap.
adjective
- 1
Pertaining to mimicry; imitative.
- 2
Mock, pretended.
- 3
Imitative; characterized by resemblance to other forms; applied to crystals which by twinning resemble simple forms of a higher grade of symmetry.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mimic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | nachahmen, nachäffen , Nachahmer |
| Portuguese | imitar , mímico , mimetizar |
| Spanish | arremedar, remedar, arrendar , mimetizar , mimetista, mimetizador |
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 mimic come from?
From Latin mīmicus, from Ancient Greek μῑμικός (mīmikós, “belonging to mimes”), from μῖμος (mîmos, “imitator, actor”); see mime.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).