See also: mité, mitë, and mī-tê

English edit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
 
A rust mite

Etymology edit

From Middle English mite, from Old English mīte (mite, tiny insect), from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (biting insect, literally cutter), from *maitaną (to cut), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (small) or *meh₂y- (to cut). Akin to Old High German mīza (mite), Middle Dutch mīte (moth, mite), Dutch mijt (moth, mite), Danish mide (mite).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

mite (plural mites)

  1. Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acarina (aka Acari).
  2. A small coin formerly circulated in England, rated at about a third of a farthing.
  3. A lepton, a small coin used in Palestine in the time of Christ.
  4. A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.
  5. (sometimes used adverbially) Anything very small; a minute object; a very little quantity or particle.
    a mite
    • 1903 March 17, Mark Twain, letter to Helen Keller:
      It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a photograph, or a telephone or any other important thing — and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite — that is all he did.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      "Well," I says, "I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough." She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going.
    • 1956, Janice Holt Giles, chapter 8, in Hannah Fowler, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC; republished Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1992, →ISBN, page 69:
      "Silas, now," Esther Whitley had said, "would be a good one for you, Hannah. He's a mite on the old side, but he's steady, an' he's been wed before. He knows the ways of a woman better'n some."
    • 1959, Frances Cavanah, Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance, Chicago, Ill.: Rand McNally, →OCLC; Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance (ReadHowYouWant Classics Library), EasyRead large edition, U.S.A.: ReadHowYouWant, 2008, →ISBN, page 30:
      Those trousers are a mite too big, but you'll soon grow into them.
  6. (colloquial, often used affectionately) A small or naughty person, or one people take pity on; rascal.
    • 2014, Lorraine F Elli, The Little Town Mouse:
      “Tom told me that, but twasn't your fault, the little mite just couldn't wait to be born that's all.” A small smile played on Leah's lips.

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

Verb edit

mite

  1. Eye dialect spelling of might.

Anagrams edit

Au edit

Noun edit

mite

  1. woman

References edit

  • transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66

Catalan edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin mythos.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

mite m (plural mites)

  1. myth

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

French edit

 
French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology edit

Inherited from Middle French, from Old French mitte (kind of insect which gnaws on cloth or cheese), from Middle Dutch mīte (moth, mite), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (biting insect, literally cutter), from *maitaną (to cut).

Akin to Old English mīte (mite, tiny insect), Old High German mīza (mite), Danish mide (mite).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

mite f (plural mites)

  1. mite (arachnid)
  2. moth, particularly one whose larva destroys something stored by humans

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Verb edit

mite

  1. inflection of miter:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Italian edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin mītem (mild, mature).

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

mite (plural miti)

  1. mild
  2. moderate (price)
  3. balmy, mild (climate)
    quest'anno è stato un gennaio mite
    January has been mild this year
  4. meek (animal)

Derived terms edit

Further reading edit

  • mite in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams edit

Latin edit

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

mīte

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of mītis

References edit

  • mite”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • mite”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Norman edit

Etymology edit

From Old French mitte (kind of insect which gnaws on cloth or cheese), from Middle Dutch mīte (moth, mite), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (biting insect, literally cutter).

Noun edit

mite f (plural mites)

  1. (Jersey) mite

Portuguese edit

Verb edit

mite

  1. inflection of mitar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Volapük edit

Noun edit

mite

  1. dative singular of mit