mite
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Rust_Mite%2C_Aceria_anthocoptes.jpg/220px-Rust_Mite%2C_Aceria_anthocoptes.jpg)
Etymology
From Middle English mite, from Old English mīte (“mite, tiny insect”), from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (“biting insect”, literally “cutter”), from *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small”) or *mai- (“to cut”). Akin to Old High German mīza (“mite”), Middle Dutch mīte (“moth, mite”), Dutch mijt (“moth, mite”), Danish mide (“mite”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: mīt, IPA(key): /maɪt/
Audio (GA): (file) - Rhymes: -aɪt
- Homophone: might
Noun
mite (plural mites)
- A minute arachnid, of the order Acarina, of which there are many species.
- 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;
- 1803, William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
- 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
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D. Appleton and Company, →OCLC, →OL; republished New York, N.Y., London: D. Appleton and Company, 1914, →OCLC, pages 124–125:
- "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 you take pity on; rascal
- 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
- 2014, Lorraine F Elli, The Little Town Mouse
Synonyms
- (small amount): see also Thesaurus:modicum.
Derived terms
Translations
|
|
Verb
mite
- Eye dialect spelling of might.
Anagrams
Au
Noun
mite
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
Pronunciation
Noun
mite m (plural mites)
Related terms
Further reading
- “mite” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
French
Etymology
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
Noun
mite f (plural mites)
Derived terms
Related terms
Verb
mite
- first-person singular present indicative of miter
- third-person singular present indicative of miter
- first-person singular present subjunctive of miter
- third-person singular present subjunctive of miter
- second-person singular imperative of miter
Further reading
- “mite”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Italian
Etymology
From Latin mītis (“mild, mature”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
Lua error in Module:it-headword at line 114: Parameter 1 is not used by this template.
- mild
- moderate (price)
- balmy, mild (climate)
- quest'anno è stato un gennaio mite
- January has been mild this year
- meek (animal)
Anagrams
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈmiː.te/, [ˈmiːt̪ɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈmi.te/, [ˈmiːt̪e]
Adjective
(deprecated template usage) mīte
- nominative neuter singular of mītis
- accusative neuter singular of mītis
- 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)
Volapük
Noun
mite
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/aɪt
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English colloquialisms
- English non-lemma forms
- English verb forms
- English eye dialect
- en:Arachnids
- en:Mites and ticks
- en:Parasites
- Au lemmas
- Au nouns
- Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan nouns
- Catalan countable nouns
- Catalan masculine nouns
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Middle Dutch
- French terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- French non-lemma forms
- French verb forms
- fr:Insects
- Italian terms inherited from Latin
- Italian terms derived from Latin
- Italian 2-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Italian terms with usage examples
- Latin 2-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin adjective forms
- Norman terms inherited from Old French
- Norman terms derived from Old French
- Norman terms derived from Middle Dutch
- Norman terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Norman lemmas
- Norman nouns
- Norman feminine nouns
- Jersey Norman
- nrf:Insects
- Volapük non-lemma forms
- Volapük noun forms