mire
n. countablen. a deep, soft, and wet place that is hard to walk through. It can also mean a difficult or unpleasant situation that is hard to get out of.
n. a soft, wet, and muddy area of ground; by extension, a state of difficulty, confusion, or moral degradation. Often used in the plural to describe a complex or problematic situation.
The hikers got stuck in a deep mire of mud.
The company found itself in a legal mire after the discovery of the hidden documents.
The poet describes the protagonist's descent into a moral mire, where the lines between right and wrong become increasingly blurred by his own ambition.
From Middle English mire, a borrowing from Old Norse mýrr, from Proto-Germanic miuzijō, whence also Swedish myr, Norwegian myr, Icelandic mýri, Dutch mier (in placenames, for example Mierlo). Related to Proto-Germanic meusą, whence Old English mēos, and Proto-Germanic musą, whence Old English mos (English moss).
From Middle English mire, from Old English mȳre, mīere, from Proto-West Germanic miurijā, from Proto-Germanic miurijǭ (“ant”). Cognate to Old Norse maurr, Danish myre, Middle Dutch miere (“ant”) (Dutch mier). All probably from Proto-Indo-European *morwi- (“ant”), whence also cognate to Latin formīca.