mishmash

American  

[mish-mahsh, -mash] / ˈmɪʃˌmɑʃ, -ˌmæʃ /

Also mishmosh

noun

1. a confused mess; hodgepodge; jumble.

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mishmash British  

/ ˈmɪʃˌmæʃ /

noun

1. a confused collection or mixture; hotchpotch

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Etymology

Origin of mishmash

1425–75; late Middle English; gradational formation based on mash ¹

Explanation

A mishmash is a random bunch of odds and ends. Many people have a mishmash of things in their basement or garage. A pile of old keys, one sock, four paper clips, and a water bottle? Total mishmash. Many houses have one kitchen drawer full of a mishmash of pens, rubber bands, carryout menus, and gum, for example. If you write a last-minute research paper, you might wind up with a mishmash of random ideas and opinions. The word was originally spelled with a hyphen, mish-mash, and before that it was mysse-masche, which had to do with mash, as in a bunch of soft food chucked together and fed to pigs. Another word for mishmash is hodgepodge.

Related Words

• jumble
• patchwork