Learning Spanish & Etymology Pattern-Matching for Nerds

The Spanish mirar, “to look at” has two curious cousins in English: admire, mirror and miracle.

All come from the same Latin root, mirari, which meant “to wonder at”. We can see how they are all related to this same sentiment of awe and wonder:

The m‑r root is present in all versions, in English and Spanish, so the pattern is easy to spot.