A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1367 entries
mizzle
Mizzle is fine rain, finer than drizzle, hanging in the air more than falling through it, so that you are wet before you notice you are getting wet.
Etymology
The word is Middle English and appears related to a Low German and Dutch word for a fine drizzle or a mist. It sits in a set of English weather words for the same region and the same conditions: dimpsy for twilight, on this site, and smirr in Scotland for the same fine driving rain. English has a great many words for a small amount of falling water, which is not a coincidence.
Notes
In Devon and Cornwall mizzle also means to leave suddenly or to disappear.