mote
/məʊt/US/moʊt/
mote noun: a small particle; a speck.
Noun (1)
mote (plural motes)
- A small particle; a speck.
- 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.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 7:5
- What shall a Mote up to a Monarch rise?
An Emmet match an Emperor in might?a. 1729, Edward Taylor, Meditation. Joh. 14.2. I go to prepare a place for you
- Synonyms:
- modicum
Verb
mote (third-person singular simple present mote, no present participle, simple past and past participle must)
- May or might.
- he […] kept aloofe for dread to be descryde, / Untill fit time and place he mote espy, / Where he mote worke him scath and villeny.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- Must.
- Forming subjunctive expressions of wish: may.
- ‘I shall not take Vengeance into my own Hands. The Goddess will do what She will.’ ‘So mote it be,’ said the Grandmaster.1980, Erica Jong, Fanny
Noun (2)
mote (plural motes)
- A meeting for discussion.
- a wardmote in the city of London
- A body of persons who meet for discussion, especially about the management of affairs.
- a folk mote
- A place of meeting for discussion.
Noun (3)
mote (plural motes)
- A tiny computer for remote sensing; a component element of smartdust.
Proper noun capitalized: Mote
Mote (plural Motes)
- A surname.
mote meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Telugu and Malayalam
mote in Tamil
- தூசி, துரும்பு, துகள், அணு
mote in Urdu
- دھبہ, ذرہ
mote in Telugu
- A small particle; a speck
- నలక nalaka
mote in Malayalam
- spot, speck, particle
- കരട്, എരട്, തരി, അണു, പൊടിമണൽ, നേർത്തപൊടി
More languagesFewer languages
- mote in Kannada
- ದುಂಬಿನ ತುಣುಕು
- mote in Punjabi
- ਤਿਣ tiṇ
Synonyms of mote
Forms of mote
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | motes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | mote |
| past participle | must |
| past | must |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Motes |
Origin of mote
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”).
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.
See moot (“a meeting”).
Words formed from mote
Words that rhyme with mote
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- oat
- quote
- connote
- groat
- remote
- scrote
- tote
- bote
- capote
- denote
- devote
- dote
- smote
- solar boat
- undercoat
- cote
- demote
- gloat
- pote
- refloat
- rote
- undernote
- wrote
- yote
- blót
- confidence vote
- disease boat
- end of quote
- end quote
- entrecôte
- flote
- frote
- ignote
- isot
- lote
- loth
- misquote
- moth
- phot
- recoat
- rewrote
- shoat
- stoat
- swagger coat
- troat
- two hundred fifty-sixth note
- underquote
- underwrote
Questions about mote
- What does mote mean?
- Mote means a small particle; a speck.
- What is mote in Tamil?
- Mote in Tamil is தூசி, துரும்பு, துகள். See Mote meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is mote?
- Mote can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce mote?
- Mote is pronounced /moʊt/ (US).
- What is the plural of mote?
- The plural of mote is motes.
Words near mote in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mote (page history and authors); Mote (page history and authors); mote (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mote (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mote (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); mote (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਤਿਣ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-mote.wav.
Cite this entry: “mote.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mote. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.