mote

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• General-American: /moʊt/
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• Received-Pronunciation: /məʊt/
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• rhymes with -əʊt
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• homophone: moat
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• CMU ARPABET: M OW1 T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From the French and English surname, spelling variant of Motte, from the noun motte (“stronghold”); also a variant of Mott.

From Middle English mot, from Old English mot (“grain of sand; mote; atom”), from Proto-West Germanic *mot (“grain of dirt or sand, speck”). Perhaps linked to English mud. Compare West Frisian mot (“peat dust”), Dutch mot (“dust from turf; sawdust; grit”), Low German mut (“peat dust, grit”), Norwegian mutt (“speck; mote; splinter; chip”), Italian mota (“mud”), Spanish mota (“speck”).

See moot (“a meeting”).

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

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.

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Armenian: բեկորիկ (bekorik) — A small particle; a speck
• Armenian: շյուղ (šyuġ) — A small particle; a speck
• Bulgarian: прашинка (prašinka) — A small particle; a speck
• Czech: smítko — A small particle; a speck
• Dutch: stofdeeltje — A small particle; a speck
• Dutch: vuiltje — A small particle; a speck
• Estonian: kübe — A small particle; a speck
• Finnish: hiukkanen — A small particle; a speck
• Finnish: hitunen — A small particle; a speck
• French: atome — A small particle; a speck
• Galician: argueiro — A small particle; a speck
• Galician: lixo — A small particle; a speck
• Georgian: მტვერი (mṭveri) — A small particle; a speck
• German: Stäubchen — A small particle; a speck
• Hebrew: גרגיר אבק (gargír avák) — A small particle; a speck
• Icelandic: ögn — A small particle; a speck
• Icelandic: rykögn — A small particle; a speck
• Icelandic: korn — A small particle; a speck
• Irish: cáithnín — A small particle; a speck
• Italian: pagliuzza — A small particle; a speck
• Japanese: ほこり (hokori) — A small particle; a speck
• Japanese: ちり (chiri) — A small particle; a speck
• Japanese: 微粉 (bifun) — A small particle; a speck
• Middle English: mot — A small particle; a speck
• Polish: pyłek — A small particle; a speck
• Portuguese: partícula — A small particle; a speck
• Russian: пыли́нка (pylínka) — A small particle; a speck
• Russian: сори́нка (sorínka) — A small particle; a speck
• Spanish: mota — A small particle; a speck
• Swedish: smolk — A small particle; a speck
• Swedish: grand — A small particle; a speck
• Telugu: నలక (nalaka) — A small particle; a speck
• Turkish: parçacık — A small particle; a speck
• Turkish: tanecik — A small particle; a speck
• Turkish: zerre — A small particle; a speck
• Ukrainian: порошинка (porošynka) — A small particle; a speck
• Ukrainian: пилинка (pylynka) — A small particle; a speck