mine
/maɪ̯n/pronoun, noun, verb
mine is spelled M-I-N-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 110 times per million words in written English, the 972nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a pronoun, mine means “Used predicatively” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in mine?
| Letters | 4: M-I-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 110 times per million words; the 972nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is mine?
Mine appears 110 times per million words in written English, the 972nd 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 mine?
- /maɪ̯n/
- /ˈmaɪ.ɪn/
Mine 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: En-us-mine.ogg, Mine-philidelphia.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with mine
Also written: mien.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with mine?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as mine.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: mien.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of mine
- mines plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- mining participle, present
- mined participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mine mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
pronoun
- 1
Used predicatively.
The house itself is mine, but the land is not.
- 2
Used substantively, with an implied noun.
Mine has been a long journey.
- 3
Used absolutely, set off from the sentence.
Mine for only a week so far, it already feels like an old friend.
- 4
informalMy house or home.
We had the party at mine.
- 5
As double possessive.
This house of mine is over 100 years old.
noun
- 1
An excavation from which ore or solid minerals are taken, especially one consisting of underground tunnels.
Meronyms: mine shaft, mineshaft; mine car
- 2
Any source of wealth or resources.
She's a mine of information about the history of mathematics.
- 3
A passage dug toward or underneath enemy lines, which is then packed with explosives.
The most famous mine of the American Civil War led to the Battle of the Crater.
- 4
A device intended to explode when stepped upon or touched, or when approached by a ship, vehicle, or person.
Holonym: minefield
- 5
A type of firework that explodes on the ground, shooting sparks upward.
- 6
The cavity made by a caterpillar while feeding inside a leaf.
- 7
A machine or network of machines used to extract units of a cryptocurrency.
A change to the blockchain method was contemplated to allow mines to hog less electric power.
- 8
Alternative form of mien.
verb
- 1
To remove (rock or ore) from the ground.
Crater of Diamonds State Park is the only place in the world where visitors can mine their own diamonds.
- 2
To dig into, for ore or metal.
- 3
To sow mines (the explosive devices) in (an area).
We had to slow our advance after the enemy mined the road ahead of us.
- 4
To damage (a vehicle or ship) with a mine (an explosive device).
- 5
To dig a tunnel or hole; to burrow in the earth.
the mining cony
- 6
To dig away, or otherwise remove, the substratum or foundation of; to lay a mine under; to sap; to undermine.
- 7
To ruin or destroy by slow degrees or secret means.
- 8
To tap into.
pronoun
- 1
Honorific alternative letter-case form of mine, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context.
determiner
- 1
archaicnonstandardMy; belonging to me.
- 2
archaicnonstandardUsed attributively after the noun it modifies.
- 3
archaicnonstandardUsed attributively before a vowel.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mine in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | le mien, à moi , mine , extraire |
| German | mein, meins , Grube, Mine, Bergwerk, Zeche |
| Portuguese | meu , mina , explorar, minar, minerar |
| Spanish | lo mío, de mí, mío , mina , extraer, minar |
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 mine come from?
From Middle English min, myn, from Old English mīn, from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *méynos.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).