mote

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See also: Mote, motė, möte, mõte, mótè, and møte

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English mot, from Old English mot (“grain of sand; mote; atom”), but of uncertain ultimate origin. Sometimes linked to Spanish mota (“speck”) and English mud.

Compare West Frisian mot (“peat dust”), Dutch mot (“dust from turf; sawdust; grit”), Norwegian mutt (“speck; mote; splinter; chip”).

Noun

mote (plural motes)

  1. A small particle; a speck.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Matthew 7:5:
      Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
    • a. 1729, Edward Taylor, Meditation. Joh. 14.2. I go to prepare a place for you:
      What shall a Mote up to a Monarch rise?
      An Emmet match an Emperor in might?
    • 1979, J.G. Ballard, The Unlimited Dream Company, chapter 9:
      I wanted to shrink myself to a mote of dust, plunge into this pool I held in my own cyclopean hands, soar down these runs of light to places where light itself was born from this colloquy of dust.
Synonyms
Translations
See also

Etymology 2

From Middle English moten, from Old English mōtan (“to be allowed, be able to, have the opportunity to, be compelled to, may, must”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtaną (“to be able to, have to, be delegated”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to acquire, possess, be in charge of”). Cognate with Dutch moeten (“to have to, must”), German müssen (“to have to, must”), Ancient Greek μέδω (médō, “to prevail, dominate, rule over”). Related to empty.

Verb

mote (third-person singular simple present mote, no present participle, simple past and past participle must)

  1. (archaic) May or might.
  2. (obsolete) Must.
  3. (archaic) Forming subjunctive expressions of wish: may.
    • 1980, Erica Jong, Fanny:
      ‘I shall not take Vengeance into my own Hands. The Goddess will do what She will.’ ‘So mote it be,’ said the Grandmaster.
Usage notes
  • Generally takes an infinitive without to.
Derived terms

Etymology 3

See moot (“a meeting”).

Noun

mote (plural motes)

  1. (obsolete) A meeting for discussion.
    a wardmote in the city of London
  2. (obsolete) A body of persons who meet for discussion, especially about the management of affairs.
    a folk mote
  3. (obsolete) A place of meeting for discussion.
Derived terms

Etymology 4

From remote, with allusion to the other sense of mote (“a speck of dust”).

Noun

mote (plural motes)

  1. A tiny computer for remote sensing; a component element of smartdust.

References

  1. ^ Worcester, Joseph Emerson (1910: Worcester's academic dictionary: a new etymological dictionary of the English language, p. 371

Anagrams

Inari Sami

Etymology

From Proto-Samic *moδē.

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

mote

  1. mud

Inflection

Even e-stem, t-đ gradation
Nominative mote
Genitive mođe
Singular Plural
Nominative mote mođeh
Accusative mođe muuđijd
Genitive mođe muđij
muuđij
Illative motán muuđijd
Locative moođeest muuđijn
Comitative muuđijn muđijguin
Abessive mođettáá muđijttáá
Essive motteen
Partitive motteed
Possessive forms
Singular Dual Plural
1st person — — —
2nd person — — —
3rd person — — —

Further reading

  • mote in Marja-Liisa Olthuis, Taarna Valtonen, Miina Seurujärvi and Trond Trosterud (2015–2022) Nettidigisäänih Anarâškiela-suomakielâ-anarâškielâ sänikirje‎, Tromsø: UiT
  • Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎, Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Italian

Noun

mote f pl

  1. plural of mota

Anagrams

Japanese

Romanization

mote

  1. Rōmaji transcription of もて

Latin

Participle

mōte

  1. vocative masculine singular of mōtus

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French mote and Medieval Latin mota.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

mote (plural motes)

  1. A natural or man-made mound; hill
Descendants
  • ⇒ Yola: mothee
References

Etymology 2

Verb

mote

  1. inflection of moten (“to have to”):
    1. present subjunctive singular
    2. present indicative/subjunctive plural

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

From French mode. Compare mode.

Noun

mote m (definite singular moten, indefinite plural moter, definite plural motene)

  1. fashion

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology

From French mode.

Noun

mote m (definite singular moten, indefinite plural motar, definite plural motane)

  1. fashion

Derived terms

References

Portuguese

Etymology

From Provençal or French mot (“word”); see also Italian motto (“word”).

Pronunciation

 

  • Hyphenation: mo‧te

Noun

mote m (plural motes)

  1. motto

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmote/
  • Rhymes: -ote
  • Syllabification: mo‧te

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French mot (“word, saying”) or Occitan mot.

Noun

mote m (plural motes)

  1. nickname
  2. motto (heraldry)
Related terms

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Quechua mut'i.

Noun

mote m (plural motes)

  1. (South America) hulled cereal, especially pearl barley and hominy
Derived terms

Further reading

Volapük

Noun

mote

  1. dative singular of mot
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia