Wiktionary

mote

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

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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.[1]

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

Noun

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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
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Translations
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See also
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Etymology 2

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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

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

  1. (archaic) May or might. [from 9th c.]
  2. (obsolete) Must. [9th–17th c.]
  3. (archaic) Forming subjunctive expressions of wish: may. [from 9th c.]
    • 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
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  • Generally takes an infinitive without to.
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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See moot (“a meeting”).

Noun

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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
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Etymology 4

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

Noun

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mote (plural motes)

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

References

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

Anagrams

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Inari Sami

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Etymology

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From Proto-Samic *moδē.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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mote

  1. mud

Inflection

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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

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  • mote in Marja-Liisa Olthuis, Taarna Valtonen, Miina Seurujärvi and Trond Trosterud (2015–2022) Nettidigisäänih Anarâškiela-suomakielâ-anarâškielâ sänikirje‎[1], Tromsø: UiT
  • Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎[2], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Italian

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Noun

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mote f pl

  1. plural of mota

Anagrams

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Japanese

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Romanization

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mote

  1. Rōmaji transcription of もて

Latin

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Participle

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mōte

  1. vocative masculine singular of mōtus

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Old French mote and Medieval Latin mota.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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mote (plural motes)

  1. A natural or man-made mound; hill
Descendants
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  • ⇒ Yola: mothee
References
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Etymology 2

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Verb

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mote

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

Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

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From French mode. Compare mode.

Noun

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

  1. fashion

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology

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From French mode.

Noun

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

  1. fashion

Derived terms

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References

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Portuguese

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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  • Hyphenation: mo‧te

Noun

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mote m (plural motes)

  1. motto

Spanish

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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

Noun

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mote m (plural motes)

  1. nickname
  2. motto (heraldry)
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Etymology 2

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Borrowed from Quechua mut'i.

Noun

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mote m (plural motes)

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

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Volapük

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Noun

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mote

  1. dative singular of mot
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