# mole
## English
### Etymology 1

From Middle English mole, mool, from Old English māl (“a mole, spot, mark, blemish”), from Proto-West Germanic *mail, from Proto-Germanic *mailą (“spot, wrinkle”), from Proto-Indo-European *mel-, *melw- (“dark, dirty”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey-, *my- (“to soil, sully”).
Cognate with Scots mail (“spot, stain”), Saterland Frisian Moal (“scar”), German dialectal Meil (“spot, stain, blemish”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌻 (mail, “spot, blemish”).

#### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /məʊl/, /mɔʊl/
* (Estuary English) IPA: /mɒʊl/
* (General American) IPA: /mol/, /moʊl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊl

#### Noun

mole (plural moles)
* A naevus, a pigmented, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy spot on the skin.

##### Synonyms

* birthmark
* nevus, naevus, nævus

##### Related terms

* beauty mark

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English molle (“mole”), molde, mole, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *mulaz, *mulhaz (“mole, salamander”), from Proto-Indo-European *molg-, *molk- (“slug, salamander”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)melw- (“to grind, crush, beat”).
Cognate with North Frisian mull (“mole”), Saterland Frisian molle (“mole”), Dutch mol (“mole”), Low German Mol, Mul (“mole”), German Molch (“salamander, newt”), Old Russian смолжь (smolžʹ, “snail”), Czech mlž (“clam”).
Derivation as an abbreviation of Middle English molewarpe, a variation of moldewarpe, moldwerp (“mole”) in Middle English is unexplained and probably unlikely due to the simultaneous occurrence of both words. See mouldwarp.

#### Alternative forms

* mool, moule, mowle, mold (obsolete)

#### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /məʊl/
* (Estuary English) IPA: /mɒʊl/
* (General American) IPA: /mol/, /moʊl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊl

#### Noun

mole (plural moles)
* Any of several small, burrowing insectivores of the family Talpidae; also any of southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae (golden moles) and any of several Australian mammals in the family Notoryctidae (marsupial moles), similar to but not closely related to Talpidae moles.
* Any of the burrowing rodents also called mole-rats.
* (espionage) An internal spy, a person who involves themself with an enemy organisation, especially an intelligence or governmental organisation, to determine and betray its secrets from within.
* A kind of self-propelled excavator used to form underground drains, or to clear underground pipelines.
* A type of underground drain used in farm fields, in which a mole plow creates an unlined channel through clay subsoil.

##### Synonyms

* molewarp
* mouldwarp

##### Derived terms

* blind as a mole
* Brewer's mole (Parascalops breweri)
* common mole (Scalopus aquaticus)
* duck mole (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
* eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus)
* golden mole (Chrysochloridae spp.)
* hairy-tailed mole, hairytail mole (Parascalops breweri)
* Japanese mole (Mogera wogura)
* marsupial mole * (Notoryctidae spp.)
* mole-bank
* mole bean (Ricinus communis)
* mole crab (Hippoidea spp.)
* Mole Creek
* mole cricket * (Gryllotalpidae spp.)
* mole-eyed
* molehill *
* mole plough
* mole-rat *
* mole run
* mole salamander (Ambystoma spp.)
* mole shrew *
* Père David's mole (Talpa davidiana)
* rat-mole, rat mole
* Sado mole (Mogera tokudae)
* sand mole (Bathyergus suillus)
* shrew mole *
* star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata)
* Temminck's mole (Mogera wogura)
* Tokuda's mole (Mogera tokudae)
* Tyrrhenian mole (Talpa tyrrhenica)
* water mole
* whack-a-mole
* Entry has derived terms

##### Translations
### Etymology 3

From moll (from Moll, an archaic nickname for Mary), influenced by the spelling of the word mole (“an internal spy”), and due to /mɒl/ and /məʊl/ merging as [ˈmɔʊɫ] in the Australian accent.

#### Pronunciation

* (General Australian) IPA: /məʉl/, [ˈmɔʊɫ]
* Rhymes: -əʊl

#### Noun

mole (plural moles)
* (slang, derogatory, chiefly Australia and New Zealand) A moll, a bitch, a slut.

##### Synonyms

* moll

##### Translations
### Etymology 4

From French môle or Latin mōles (“mass, heap, rock”).

#### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /məʊl/
* (General American) IPA: /mol/, /moʊl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊl

#### Noun

mole (plural moles)
* (nautical) A massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater or junction between places separated by water.
** 1847, George A. Fisk, A pastor's memorial of the holy land:[Alexander the Great] then conceived the stupendous idea of constructing a mole, which should at once connect [Tyre] with the main land; and this was actually accomplished by driving piles and pouring in incalculable quantities of soil and fragments of rock; and it is generally believed, partly on the authority of ancient authors, that the whole ruins of Old Tyre were absorbed in this vast enterprize, and buried in the depths of the sea [...]
** 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 1:Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land.
** 1983, Archibald Lyall, Arthur Norman Brangham, The companion guide to the south of France:[about Saint-Tropez] Yachts and fishing boats fill the little square of water, which is surrounded on two sides by quays, on the third by a small ship-repairing yard and on the fourth by the mole where the fishing boats moor and the nets are spread out to dry.
* (rare) A haven or harbour, protected with such a breakwater.
* (historical) An Ancient Roman mausoleum.

##### Translations
### Etymology 5

Calqued from German Mol; spelled as if it had come directly from molecule or Latin moles (the ultimate source of Mol and molecule in any event).

#### Alternative forms

* mol (dated)

#### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /məʊl/
* (General American) IPA: /mol/, /moʊl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊl

#### Noun

mole (plural moles)
* (chemistry, physics) In the International System of Units, the base unit of amount of substance; the amount of substance of a system which contains exactly 6.02214076×10$^{23}$ elementary entities (atoms, ions, molecules, etc.). Symbol: mol. The number of atoms is known as Avogadro’s number. [from 1897]

##### Hyponyms

* gram molecule
* gram atom

##### Derived terms

* mole fraction
* mole sieve

##### Translations
### Etymology 6

In English since before the 20th century. From French môle f, from Latin mola (“millstone”), because it is a hardened mass.

#### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /məʊl/
* (General American) IPA: /mol/, /moʊl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊl

#### Noun

mole (plural moles)
* A hemorrhagic mass of tissue in the uterus caused by a dead ovum.

##### Translations
### Etymology 7

From Spanish mole, from Classical Nahuatl mōlli (“sauce; stew; something ground”).

#### Alternative forms

* molé

#### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /ˈmoʊleɪ/, /ˈmoʊli/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)

#### Noun

mole (countable and uncountable, plural moles)
* Any of several spicy sauces typical of the cuisine of Mexico and neighboring Central America countries, especially one that contains chocolate and is used in cooking main dishes, not desserts.

##### Translations
### References

* ↑ mole (accessed: March 30, 2007)
* ↑ mole (accessed: March 30, 2007)

### Anagrams

* melo-, Melo, elmo, Elmo, melo, moel, Lomé

## Central Franconian
### Etymology

From Old High German mālōn, mālēn, denominative of māl (“spot, stain”), from Proto-West Germanic *mālijan, from Proto-Germanic *mēlijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“dark color”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɔːlə/

### Verb

mole (third-person singular present molt, past participle jemolt)
* (most dialects) to paint, draw, depict

### See also

* mahle

## Chavacano
### Etymology

Inherited from Spanish moler (“to grind”).

### Verb

molé
* to mill; to grind

## Danish
### Etymology

From French môle.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /moːlə/, [ˈmoːlə]

### Noun

mole c (singular definite molen, plural indefinite moler)
* mole, breakwater
* pier, jetty

#### Inflection
## Esperanto
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Adverb

mole
* softly

#### Antonyms

* malmole

#### Related terms

* mola (“soft”)

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from German Mol.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɔl/
* Audio (Paris):(file)

### Noun

mole f (plural moles)
* (chemistry, physics) mole

### Further reading

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

## Galician
### Verb

mole
* third-person singular present indicative of mulir

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɔ.le/
* Rhymes: -ɔle
* Hyphenation: mò‧le

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from German Mol.

#### Noun

mole f (plural moli)
* (chemistry, physics) mole
    Synonym: grammo-molecola

##### Derived terms

* millimole
* molare

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Noun

mole
* plural of mola

### Anagrams

* elmo, melo, mélo

## Latin
### Etymology 1
#### Verb

mole
* second-person singular present active imperative of molō

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

mōle f
* ablative singular of mōlēs

## Lower Sorbian
### Noun

mole
* Superseded spelling of móle.

## Middle English
### Noun

mole
* Alternative form of molle (“mole”)

## Polish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɔ.lɛ/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔlɛ
* Syllabification: mo‧le

### Noun

mole m animal
* nominative/accusative/vocative plural of mól

### Noun

mole m inan
* nominative/accusative/vocative plural of mol

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈmɔ.li/
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈmɔ.li/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈmɔ.le/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈmɔ.lɨ/
* Hyphenation: mo‧le

### Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese mole, from Latin mollis, earlier *molduis, from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥dus (“soft, weak”).

#### Adjective

mole m or f (plural moles, comparable, comparative mais mole, superlative o mais mole or molíssimo, diminutive molinho, augmentative molão)
* soft
* (informal) easy

##### Derived terms

* molemente

##### Related terms

* moleza
* molhar

### Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Latin mōlēs. Doublet of mó, an inheritance.

#### Noun

mole f (plural moles)
* mass

### Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Noun

mole f (plural moles)
* Portugal form of mol (unit of amount)

### Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Noun

mole m (plural moles)
* Alternative form of molhe (breakwater)

### Further reading

* “mole”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

## Serbo-Croatian
### Verb

mole (Cyrillic spelling моле)
* third-person plural present of moliti

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmole/ [ˈmo.le]
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ole
* Syllabification: mo‧le

### Etymology 1

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin mollis. Doublet of muelle.

#### Adjective

mole m or f (masculine and feminine plural moles)
* soft, mild
    Synonym: muelle

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin mōlēs.

#### Noun

mole f (plural moles)
* hunk, chunk, slab (thing of large size or quantity)
** 2021 January 2, Claudi Pérez, “Salvador Illa: el triunfo de la sobriedad”, in El País‎:En la sede del Ministerio de Sanidad, una mole racionalista con forma de cubo, María Luisa Carcedo procede al traspaso de carteras.At the headquarters of the Ministry of Health, a rationalist cube-shaped hunk, María Luisa Carcedo proceeds to the transfer of portfolios.
* massiveness

### Etymology 3

Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl mōlli (“sauce, something ground”).

#### Noun

mole m (plural moles)
* (Mexico) mole, a type of stew

##### Derived terms

* mole poblano

### Etymology 4
#### Verb

mole
* inflection of molar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative

### Further reading

* “mole”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Zayse-Zergulla
### Noun

mole
* fish

### References

* Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 397, →ISBN: “Zayse mo'le”
* Linda Jordan, A study of Shara and related Ometo speech varieties (Zergulla mòlɛ́)