# mote
## English
### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /moʊt/
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /məʊt/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊt
* Homophone: moat

### Etymology 1

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 and 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”).

#### Noun

mote (plural motes)
* 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

* See Thesaurus:modicum

##### See also

* floater

### Etymology 2

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

mote (third-person singular simple present mote, no present participle, simple past and past participle must)
* (archaic) May or might. [from 9th c.]
** 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:he […] kept aloofe for dread to be descryde, / Untill fit time and place he mote espy, / Where he mote worke him scath and villeny.
* (obsolete) Must. [9th–17th c.]
* (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

* Generally takes an infinitive without to.

##### Derived terms

* so mote it be

### Etymology 3

See moot (“a meeting”).

#### Noun

mote (plural motes)
* (obsolete) A meeting for discussion.
    a wardmote in the city of London
* (obsolete) A body of persons who meet for discussion, especially about the management of affairs.
    a folk mote
* (obsolete) A place of meeting for discussion.

##### Derived terms

* folk-mote
* mote bell
* shire-mote

### Etymology 4

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

#### Noun

mote (plural motes)
* A tiny computer for remote sensing; a component element of smartdust.

### References

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

### Anagrams

* -tome, Tome, tome

## Inari Sami
### Etymology

From Proto-Samic *moδē.

### Pronunciation

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

### Noun

mote
* mud

#### Inflection
### Further reading

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

## Italian
### Noun

mote f pl
* plural of mota

### Anagrams

* Temo, temo

## Japanese
### Romanization

mote
* Rōmaji transcription of もて

## Latin
### Participle

mōte
* vocative masculine singular of mōtus

## Middle English
### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French mote and Medieval Latin mota.

#### Alternative forms

* mot

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɔːt(ə)/

#### Noun

mote (plural motes)
* A natural or man-made mound; hill

##### Descendants

* ⇒ Yola: mothee

##### References

* “mōte, n.$^1$”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

mote
* inflection of moten (“to have to”):
** present subjunctive singular
** present indicative/subjunctive plural

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From French mode. Compare mode.

### Noun

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

#### Derived terms

* motebevisst
* motehus
* moteshow
* moteverden

### References

* “mote” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From French mode.

### Noun

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

#### Derived terms

* motebevisst
* motehus
* moteshow
* motemedveten, motemedviten

### References

* “mote” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old English
### Verb

mōst
* singular present subjunctive of mōtan

## Portuguese
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈmɔ.t͡ʃi/
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈmɔ.t͡ʃi/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈmɔ.te/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈmɔ.tɨ/
* Rhymes: (Brazil) -ɔt͡ʃi, (Portugal) -ɔtɨ
* Hyphenation: mo‧te

### Noun

mote m (plural motes)
* motto

### Further reading

* “mote”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
* “mote”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmote/ [ˈmo.t̪e]
* Audio (Spain):(file)
* Rhymes: -ote
* Syllabification: mo‧te

### Etymology 1

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

#### Noun

mote m (plural motes)
* nickname
* motto (heraldry)

##### Related terms

* motejar

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Quechua mut'i.

#### Noun

mote m (plural motes)
* (South America) hulled cereal, especially pearl barley and hominy

##### Derived terms

* mote de maíz
* mote de trigo

### Further reading

* “mote”, 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

## Volapük
### Noun

mote
* dative singular of mot