Mickey Mouse

English

The silhouette of Mickey Mouse's head

Etymology

From Mickey, a diminutive of the given name Michael, + mouse, referring to the species of the character. The name Mickey Mouse was coined by American animator Walt Disney in 1928 after his wife, Lillian Disney, persuaded him to change the character's original name Mortimer Mouse to Mickey, deeming the former too formal for the playful character. "Mickey" was suggested by Lillian, who preferred its more approachable and lively sound.

The adjective sense developed during the Second World War, after a large quantity of low-quality counterfeit Mickey Mouse watches flooded the UK.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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Proper noun

Mickey Mouse

1. The most famous Disney cartoon character, an anthropomorphic mouse with a falsetto voice and a cheerful disposition.

Derived terms

• Mickey Mouse cap
• Mickey Mouse glove
• Mickey Mouse hat
• Mickey Mouse Protection Act
• Mickey Mousing

Descendants

• → Albanian: Miushi Miki
• → Arabic: مِيكِي مَاوْس (mīkī māws)
• → Azerbaijani: Mikki Maus
• → Bulgarian: Мики Маус (Miki Maus)
• → Czech: Mickey Mouse
• → Danish: Mickey Mouse
• → Dutch: Mickey Mouse
• → French: Mickey Mouse
• → Georgian: მიკი მაუსი (miḳi mausi)
• → German: Micky Maus (calque)
• → Greek: Μίκυ Μάους (Míky Máous), μικιμάους (mikimáous)
• → Hebrew: מיקי מאוס (miki maus)
• → Hindi: मिकी माउस (mikī māus)
• → Japanese: ミッキーマウス (Mikkī Mausu)
• → Korean: 미키 마우스 (Miki Mauseu)
• → Macedonian: Мики Маус (Miki Maus)
• → Portuguese: Mickey Mouse
• → Romanian: Mickey Mouse, Miki Maus
• → Russian: Ми́кки Ма́ус (Míkki Máus)
• → Samoan: Miki Mausi
• → Spanish: Mickey Mouse
• → Thai: มิกกี้ เมาส์

Translations

Disney character

• Afrikaans: Mickey Muis
• Albanian: Miushi Miki m
• Amharic: ሚኪ ማውዝ m (miki mawz)
• Arabic: مِيكِي مَاوْس m (mīkī māws)
• Armenian: Միկի Մաուս (Miki Maus)
• Azerbaijani: Mikki Maus
• Bengali: মিকি মাউস (miki maus)
• Bulgarian: Мики Маус (Miki Maus)
• Burmese: မစ်ကီးမောက်စ် (macki:maukc)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 米奇老鼠 (mai⁵ kei⁴ lou⁵ syu²)

  Mandarin: 米老鼠 (zh) (Mǐ Lǎoshǔ), 米凱鼠／米凯鼠 (Mǐkǎishǔ), 米奇老鼠 (Mǐqí Láoshǔ), 米奇鼠 (Mǐqíshǔ)

• Czech: Mickey Mouse
• Danish: Mickey Mouse, Mikkel Mus (historical)
• Dutch: Mickey Mouse (nl)
• Esperanto: Miĉjo Muso
• Estonian: Miki Hiir
• Faroese: Mikkjal Mús m
• Finnish: Mikki Hiiri
• French: Mickey Mouse (fr)
• Georgian: მიკი მაუსი (miḳi mausi)
• German: Micky Maus (de)
• Greek: Μίκυ Μάους (Míky Máous), μικιμάους (el) m (mikimáous)
• Gujarati: મિકી માઉસ m (mikī māusa)
• Hebrew: מיקי מאוס (miki maus)
• Hindi: मिकी माउस (mikī māus)
• Hungarian: Miki egér (hu), Mickey egér (hu)
• Icelandic: Mikki mús
• Indonesian: Mickey Mouse, Miki Tikus
• Italian: Topolino
• Japanese: ミッキーマウス (Mikkī Mausu)
• Khmer: មីកគី ម៉ាវស៍ (mikki mavs)
• Korean: 미키 마우스 (Miki Mauseu)
• Lao: ມິກກີ ເມົາສ໌ (mik kī maot)
• Latin: Michael Mus m, Michael Musculus m
• Latvian: Mikipele m, Mikijs m, Mikimauss m
• Lithuanian: Peliukas Mikis m
• Macedonian: Мики Маус m (Miki Maus)
• Malay: Mickey Mouse
• Maori: Miki Kiore
• Marathi: मिकी माउस (mikī māus)
• Mongolian: Мики хулгана (Miki xulgana)
• Norwegian: Mikke Mus
• Polish: Myszka Miki (pl) f
• Portuguese: Rato Mickey, Mickey Mouse m
• Quechua: Miki Ukucha
• Romanian: Miki Maus, Mickey Mouse
• Russian: Ми́кки Ма́ус m (Míkki Máus)
• Samoan: Miki Mausi
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: Miki Maus, Mika Miš m (historical)

• Spanish: Mickey Mouse, Ratón Mickey, Ratón Miguelito
• Swedish: Musse Pigg (sv) c, Micky Mus (historical)
• Tagalog: Mickey Mouse
• Tamil: மிக்கி மவுஸ் (mikki mavus)
• Telugu: మిక్కీ మౌస్ (mikkī maus)
• Thai: มิกกี้ เมาส์, มิคกี้เมาส์ (mík-gîi-máo, mík-gîi-máos)
• Tibetan: མིག་གིའི་ཙི་ཙི། (mig gi'i tsi tsi)
• Turkish: Miki Fare, Mickey Fare
• Uyghur: مىكى چاشقان (miki chashqan)
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} Mici Llygoden m

Adjective

Mickey Mouse (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) Of inferior quality, poorly-run; too easy to be taken seriously, trivial.
   • 1983 November 21, “Rangers get past Quebec in Overtime”, in Miami Herald:

     "They are putting a Mickey Mouse operation on the ice," added Gretzky, who extended apologies to New Jersey goaltenders Ron Low and Chico Resch.

   • 1991 April 20, CNN_Novak:

     You mean, somebody who, for example, is a retired Army officer, has been teaching, as you do in the Army about half the time for about 30 years, you mean he couldn't go in and teach in the school' cause he didn't take some Mickey Mouse course in education at a state university?

   • 1996 February 11, Dave van Dyck, “Braves, Indians Are Teams to Beat Again; Series Repeat Appears Likely As Camps Open”, in Chicago Sun-Times, SPORTS, page 18:

     California (78-67): This is no Mickey Mouse outfit, even though Disney is buying into the team. / The Angels didn't make many changes in personnel during the winter.

Synonyms

• dodgy
• noddy
• shoddy

Derived terms

• Mickey Mouse degree
• Mickey Mouse money
• Mickey Mouse ring
• Mickeysoft

Translations

of an item of dubious quality

• Finnish: mikkihiiri-

Danish

A Mickey Mouse pin.

Etymology

1949, from English Mickey Mouse, notably being untranslated unlike this character in other Scandinavian languages.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: Mic‧key‧Mouse

Proper noun

Mickey Mouse

1. (cartoon) Mickey Mouse (One of the Disney cartoon characters, an anthropomorphic mouse who usually wears red shorts and is known for circular ears.)

Hyponyms

• (Disney characters): Anders And, Fedtmule, Pluto

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Mickey Mouse.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.kej ˈmaw.zi/ [ˈmi.keɪ̯ ˈmaʊ̯.zi]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.kej ˈmaw.zi/ [ˈmi.keɪ̯ ˈmaʊ̯.zi]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.kej ˈmaw.ze/ [ˈmi.keɪ̯ ˈmaʊ̯.ze]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.kɐj ˈmaw.zɨ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.kɐj ˈmaw.zɨ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.kej ˈmaw.zɨ/
  • (Central Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.kej ˈmaw.zɨ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmi.ke ˈmaw.zɨ/

Proper noun

Mickey Mouse m

1. Mickey Mouse

Spanish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English Mickey Mouse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmiki ˈmaus/ [ˌmi.ki ˈmau̯s]
• IPA^(key): /ˌmɪki ˈmaus/ [ˌmɪki ˈmau̯s]
• Syllabification: Mic‧key Mou‧se

Proper noun

Mickey Mouse m

1. Mickey Mouse