# mite
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English mite, from Old English mīte (“mite, tiny insect”), from Proto-West Germanic *mītā, 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

* (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: mīt, IPA: /maɪt/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪt
* Homophone: might

### Noun

mite (plural mites)
* Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acarina (aka Acari).
* A small coin formerly circulated in England, rated at about a third of a farthing.
** 1803, William Blake, Auguries of Innocence:One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands Shall buy and sell the miser's lands;
* A lepton, a small coin used in Palestine in the time of Christ.
* A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.
* (sometimes used adverbially) Anything very small; a minute object; a very little quantity or particle.
    Synonyms: atom, speck; see also Thesaurus:modicum
    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.
* (colloquial, often used affectionately) A small or naughty person, or one people take pity on; rascal.
    Synonyms: rogue, scamp; see also Thesaurus:troublemaker
** 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 35:Today's children at Christmas-time take a cast-off toy to the Toy Service held in many churches, and it is a pretty sight to watch those tiny mites clutching their toys and parting from them.j
** 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.

#### Derived terms

* air-sac mite (Cytleichus nudus)
* a mite
* bee mite (Varroa destructor)
* beetle mite (Oribatoidea spp.)
* bird mite (Ornithonyssus spp.)
* blackberry mite (Aceria essigi)
* book mite
* broad mite
* carpet mite (Psoroptidae spp.)
* cat fur mite (Cheyletiella blakei)
* cheese mite (Tyrolichus casei)
* chicken mite
* clover mite (Bryobia praetiosa)
* common house mite (Glycyphagus domesticus)
* dog fur mite (Cheyletiella yasguri)
* dust mite (Reduvius personatus, Dermatophagoides spp.)
* ear mite (Otodectes cynotis)
* eyelash mite
* feather mite
* flour mite (Acarus siro)
* follicle mite
* fruit mite (Carpoglyphus lactis et al.)
* furniture mite (Glycyphagus domesticus)
* gall mite
* harvest mite (Trombicula spp.)
* house dust mite (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus)
* house mouse mite (Liponyssoides sanguineus)
* itch mite (Sarcoptes scabiei)
* mite box
* mite cheese
* moss mite
* peacock mite
* prune mite (Carpoglyphus lactis)
* quill mite
* rabbit ear mite
* rabbit fur mite (Cheyletiella parasitovorax)
* red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae)
* red velvet mite
* rust mite
* spider mite (Tetranychidae spp.)
* spiny rat mite (Laelaps echidnina)
* stock mites (Lepidoglyphus, Acarus, Tyrophagus, Tydeus, Cheyletus, Tarsonemus spp.)
* storage mite (Acarus siro)
* sugar mite (Lepidoglyphus destructor)
* trombiculid mite (Trombiculidae spp.)
* tropical rat mite (Ornithonyssus bacoti)
* water mite
* wheat mite (Acarus siro)
* widow's mite
* Willamette mite, Willamette spider mite (Tetranycus willamette)
* wing mite (Pterolichus obtusus)
* wood mite (Oribatidae spp.)

#### Translations
### Verb

mite
* Eye dialect spelling of might.

### Anagrams

* item, METI, Item, EMT-I, it me, time, emit, -time

## Au
### Noun

mite
* woman

### References

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

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mythos.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ˈmi.tə]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈmi.te]

### Noun

mite m (plural mites)
* myth

#### Related terms

* mític
* mitologia

#### Further reading

* “mite” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## French
### Etymology

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

* IPA: /mit/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

mite f (plural mites)
* mite (arachnid)
* moth, particularly one whose larva destroys something stored by humans

#### Derived terms

* antimite
* boule à mites

#### Related terms

* acarien m
* chenille f
* papillon m
* teigne f (“clothes moth”)
* pyrale f (“meal moth”)

### Verb

mite
* inflection of miter:
** first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
** second-person singular imperative

### Further reading

* “mite”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* émit, émît

## Italian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mītem (“mild, mature”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmi.te/
* Rhymes: -ite
* Hyphenation: mì‧te
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

mite (plural miti)
* mild
* moderate (price)
* balmy, mild (climate)
    quest'anno è stato un gennaio miteJanuary has been mild this year
* meek (animal)

#### Derived terms

* mitemente

### Further reading

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

### Anagrams

* item, temi

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈmiː.te/, [ˈmiːt̪ɛ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈmi.te/, [ˈmiːt̪e]

### Adjective

mīte
* nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of mītis

### References

* “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
### Etymology

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

mite f (plural mites)
* (Jersey) mite

## Old English
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *mītā, from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (“biting insect”, literally “cutter”), from *maitaną (“to cut”).

### Noun

mīte f
* a mite, small insect

#### Descendants

* Middle English: mite
** English: mite

### References

* Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “míte”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary‎, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

## Portuguese
### Verb

mite
* inflection of mitar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative

## Volapük
### Noun

mite
* dative singular of mit