Words that start with M

Something is miniature if it is a very small copy of something else. A miniature can either be a model of something, like a miniature car, or a word for a very small animal, such as a miniature horse.

Mink are a small, dark brown member of the weasel family. Their coat is thick and glossy and has been used for making fur coats from. Mink like to live around water, and eat fish, crayfish, rabbits and water birds.

Mint is a family of small plants with a strong taste and smell. It is used most often to make tea, jellies and sweets or candy. Most chewing gums, toothpastes and breath fresheners are mint flavoured. Fresh mint can be added to drinks, salads or as a garnish on many meals. Mint is often used in sweets, biscuits or cookies along with chocolate. The leaves of the mint are used for their flavour, either fresh or dried. The flavour is carried in oil in the leaves, and the very strongly flavoured oil can be extracted and stored for later use.
Mint is an easy plant to grow. It prefers a lightly shaded spot with good, moist soil but will grow almost anywhere under almost any conditions. It grows a vigorous root system that can spread very fast. Mint is best grown in a pot so it doesn't invade the rest of the garden. You can grow new mint plants by taking a cutting of a mint runner. Just digging down a little at the edge of a clump of mint should loosen up a runner that already has roots, and can be clipped off and used to grow a new plant.

A mirage happens when there are areas of air close to each other at different temperatures, which causes light to bend. This often happens when there is a layer of very hot air just above a road. The result is that something that should be seen in one place is seen in another place. Mirages can look a lot like water on the ground, reflecting the sky.

If something is misplaced it is lost or in the wrong place. If you misplace your car keys, they're not in their usual location. If you find one pineapple in the cereal aisle instead of with the rest of the pineapples at the grocery store, the pineapple has been misplaced.

Something is missing if it is not there, and it should be there. One of the chocolates in the picture is missing.

Missouri, abbreviated to MO, is a state in the mid west of the United States of America. The capital of Missouri is Jefferson City. One of the largest cities in Missouri is St. Louis.

Mistletoe is a name for a group of unrelated plants that all grow the same way - by being partly parasitic on another plant. This means they grow partly inside another plant, using it as a source of nutrition. Mistletoes can also generate some of their own food from the sun like other plants.
Mistletoe is often used as a Christmas decoration. It is a tradition that any male and female who meet under the mistletoe must kiss.

A mitt is a glove that is worn to protect your hand from something. For example, oven mitts protect your hands from heat.

Mixing is a way of combining two or more things together so you cannot easily tell what went into the mix.
You make cake batter by mixing the ingredients together, and you make new colours of paint by mixing different colours together. Food described as 'mixed' like mixed candy or mixed nuts is made from several different kinds of food mixed together.
The picture is of someone mixing several different colours of paint together.