mota

See also: Mota, motá, móta, möta, møta, mǿta, mơta, and mô tả

English

Noun

mota (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of mootah
   • 1988, “Providence”, in Mike Watt (lyrics), Sonic Youth (music), Daydream Nation, performed by Sonic Youth, Enigma Records:

     Thurston... I think it's 10:30. We're calling from Providence, Rhode Island. Did you find your shit? You gotta watch the mota, Thurston, your fuckin memory just goes out the window.

Anagrams

• TMAO, atom, Mato, toma, Amto, moat, Atom, Moat, atmo

Basque

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin monētam (“mint, money”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mota/, [mo̞.t̪a]

Noun

mota inan

1. type, kind, class
2. (taxonomy) species

   Synonym: espezie

Declension

Declension of mota (inanimate, ending in -a)

	indefinite	singular	plural
absolutive	mota	mota	motak
ergative	motak	motak	motek
dative	motari	motari	motei
genitive	motaren	motaren	moten
comitative	motarekin	motarekin	motekin
causative	motarengatik	motarengatik	motengatik
benefactive	motarentzat	motarentzat	motentzat
instrumental	motaz	motaz	motez
inessive	motatan	motan	motetan
locative	motatako	motako	motetako
allative	motatara	motara	motetara
terminative	motataraino	motaraino	motetaraino
directive	motatarantz	motarantz	motetarantz
destinative	motatarako	motarako	motetarako
ablative	motatatik	motatik	motetatik
partitive	motarik	—	—
prolative	motatzat	—	—

Further reading

• “mota”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
• “mota”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin mota (“a mound, hill”), of Germanic origin, perhaps via Frankish *mot, *motta (“mud, peat, bog, turf”), from Proto-Germanic *mutô. Compare French motte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈmɔ.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈmɔ.ta]

Noun

mota f (plural motes)

1. mound, hillock
2. (historical) motte
3. clod, block of soil
4. hummock, tussock
5. levee

Derived terms

• castell de mota

Further reading

• “mota” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “mota” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “mota”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.

Galician

Alternative forms

• mouta

Etymology

From Medieval Latin motta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔta̝/

Noun

mota f (plural motas)

1. (dated) motte, rampart
   • 1395, Miguel González Garcés, editor, Historia de La Coruña. Edad Media, A Coruña: Caixa Galicia, page 557:

     que o dicto martin bezerra e a sua moller façan tirar et derribar todos los penedos et pedras de mota que estan cabo da dicta casa sobre la terra os que poderen tirar con palancos de ferro et de madeyro et a maos de omes et que os tiren da mota et que os lançen contra o rrio et façan a mota chaa

     the aforementioned Martin Becerra and his wife should order the toppling of every boulder and every stone of the motte which is by the aforementioned house, with iron levers, and wood levers, and by the hands of men; they should be removed from the motte and thrown into the river, and they should flatten the motte

2. mound

Derived terms

• A Mótega
• Mota

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “mota”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “mota”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “mota”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “mota”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Gothic

Romanization

mōta

1. Romanization of 𐌼𐍉𐍄𐌰

Hausa

Etymology

From English motor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /móː.tàː/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [móː.tàː]

Noun

mōtā̀ f (plural mōtōcī, possessed form mōtàr̃)

1. automobile, car

Italian

Etymology

From Latin maltha (“mineral pitch”). The original [ɫ] appears to have vocalized to [u̯] in pre-literary Tuscan, with the resulting [au̯] regularly yielding [ɔ], as in Latin aurum (“gold”) > Italian òro. Doublet of malta. Less probably of Germanic origin, related to English mud.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.ta/
• Rhymes: -ɔta
• Hyphenation: mò‧ta

Noun

mota f (plural mote)

1. mud

   Synonym: fango

Derived terms

• moticchio
• motiglio
• motoso

References

• Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN

Anagrams

• Toma, toma

Kari'na

Etymology

From Proto-Cariban *mota; compare Apalaí mota, Trió mota, Wayana mota, Waiwai mota, Akawaio mota, Pemon mota, Ye'kwana mota, Yao (South America) hoomotaly.

Pronunciation

• (Venezuela, West Suriname) IPA^(key): [moːta]
• (East Suriname) IPA^(key): [moʔta]

Noun

mota (possessed motary)

1. shoulder

References

• Courtz, Hendrik (2008) A Carib grammar and dictionary‎^[1], Toronto: Magoria Books, →ISBN, page 320
• Ahlbrinck, Willem (1931) “motarï”, in Encyclopaedie der Karaïben, Amsterdam: Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, page 305; republished as Willem Ahlbrinck, Doude van Herwijnen, transl., L'Encyclopédie des Caraïbes‎^[2], Paris, 1956, page 297

Latin

Participle

mōta

1. inflection of mōtus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

Participle

mōtā

1. ablative feminine singular of mōtus

References

• "mota", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.ta/
• Rhymes: -ɔta
• Syllabification: mo‧ta

Verb

mota

1. third-person singular present of motać

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.tɐ/

• Rhymes: -ɔtɐ
• Hyphenation: mo‧ta

Noun

mota f (plural motas)

1. (chiefly Portugal) motorcycle

   Synonyms: moto, motocicleta

Silesian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Motte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.ta/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔta
• Syllabification: mo‧ta

Noun

mota f

1. moth (insect)

   Hypernym: ôwada

Further reading

• mota in silling.org

Spanish

Etymology

Uncertain; possibly borrowed from Germanic, from Proto-Germanic *muþraz (“sediment”), cognate to Italian mota, English mud, Dutch modder. Or, possibly from Iberian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmota/ [ˈmo.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -ota
• Syllabification: mo‧ta

Noun

mota f (plural motas)

1. speck (tiny spot or particle), mote

   Synonyms: partícula, migaja, ápice

2. (uncountable, slang, Latin America) marijuana

   Synonyms: bareta, hierba, macoña, maría, marimba, pasto

3. (textile) pill, fluff

Derived terms

• motear
• motero
• motudo

Further reading

• “mota”, 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

Swahili

Etymology

Borrowed from English motor.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Noun

mota class IX (plural mota class X)

1. motor, engine

Swedish

Etymology

From mot +‎ -a

Verb

mota (present motar, preterite motade, supine motat, imperative mota)

1. to (physically) prevent from going farther (despite attempts), to block

   Den arga mannen försökte ta sig in på puben, men motades av dörrvakterna

   The angry man tried to enter the pub, but was blocked by the bouncers

2. (with a particle like bort (“away”) or undan (“away”)) to (physically) drive away

   Livvakterna motade bort paparazzifotograferna

   The bodyguards pushed (drove (physically)) the paparazzi away

Conjugation

Conjugation of mota (weak)

	active		passive
infinitive	mota		motas
supine	motat		motats
imperative	mota		—
imper. plural1	moten		—
	present	past	present	past
indicative	motar	motade	motas	motades
ind. plural1	mota	motade	motas	motades
subjunctive2	mote	motade	motes	motades
present participle		motande
past participle		motad

¹ Archaic. ² Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Derived terms

• mota Olle i grind

References

• mota in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
• mota in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

Tetum

Noun

mota

1. river

References

• “mota”, in Dicionário infopédia: Tetum-English, Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

Venetan

Etymology

Compare Italian monte

Noun

mota f (plural mote)

1. heap, pile

Volapük

Noun

mota

1. genitive singular of mot

Ye'kwana

Etymology

From Proto-Cariban *mota (“shoulder”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mota]

Noun

mota (obligatorily possessed; possessed motai)

1. shoulder

References

• Cáceres, Natalia (2011) Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana‎^[3], Lyon, page 115