Amiss means not as it should be. Something is amiss, nothing amiss, take it amiss.
It comes after the noun — something amiss, never an amiss something — and it usually appears in that vague form, where the speaker senses a fault without naming it. Take it amiss means take offence. Not go amiss means would be welcome: a cup of tea would not go amiss.
1adjectiveamissNot as it should be.
“She sensed that something was amiss when she saw the front door wide open.”
amiss is a state of wrongness.
Proto-Indo-European
*meyth₂- — to change, exchange, trade
Proto-Germanic
*missijaną — to miss, go wrong, fail
Proto-West Germanic
*missijan
Old English
missan — to miss, escape the notice of a person
Middle English
missen
English
miss
English, today
amiss
From a- + miss. miss Verb from Middle English missen, from Old English missan (“to miss, escape the notice of a person”), from Proto-West Germanic missijan, from Proto-Germanic missijaną (“to miss, go wrong, fail”), from Proto-Indo-European meyth₂- (“to change, exchange, trade”). Cognate with West Frisian misse (“to miss”), Dutch missen (“to miss”), German missen (“to miss”), Norwegian Bokmål - and Danish miste (“to lose”), Swedish missa (“to miss”), Norwegian Nynorsk -, Icelandic missa (“to lose”) and Latin mittere (“to send, let go”). Noun from Middle English misse, mis, from Old English miss (“loss, absence”), from Proto-West Germanic miss, from Proto-Germanic miss- (“loss”). Cognate with Scots miss (“a loss, want, cause of grief or mourning”), Middle High German misse, mis (“lack, missing, absence”), Icelandic missir (“loss”). Related also to Scots mis (“wrongdoing, sin, guilt”), Dutch mis (“misdeed, wrongdoing, mistake”), Middle Low German misse (“sin, wrong”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA