mote

¹ American  

[moht] / moʊt /

noun

1. a small particle or speck, especially of dust.

2. moit.

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mote ² American  

[moht] / moʊt /

verb

Archaic.

past

moste

1. may or might.

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mote ¹ British  

/ məʊt /

noun

1. a tiny speck

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mote ² British  

/ məʊt /

verb

1. archaic (takes an infinitive without to) may or might

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Other Word Forms

• motey adjective

Etymology

Origin of mote¹

before 1000; Middle English, Old English mot speck; cognate with Dutch mot grit, sawdust, Norwegian mutt speck

Origin of mote²

before 900; Middle English mot ( e ), Old English mōt; cognate with German muss. See must ¹

Explanation

Say the word: mote. It's short and quick, isn't it? The word corresponds to its meaning, which is something tiny: a speck of dust, a bit of fluff, a speckle of gold in the prospector's pan. We're not sure of the origin of the word mote, except that it is related to Germanic words meaning "sawdust or grit, tiny dust particles." We think of a mote as the tiniest of objects, but astronomer Carl Sagan demonstrates a different perspective when he looked at a photograph of Earth taken from a great distance by Voyager I and said, "We live on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."

Example Sentences

These machines, which are a mere one-billionth of a meter in size, are no larger than a mote of dust, truly living up to the name "nano."

From Salon • Dec. 15, 2023

Bangladesh, one of the world's fastest-growing economies, has raised fuel prices by mote than 50% in just a week.

From BBC • Aug. 13, 2022

And we as humans, temporary inhabitants of a dust mote, as Carl Sagan said, did what we had to do.

From New York Times • Jan. 27, 2022

After the issue was resolved, another mote of organic material began to threaten the mission’s launch.

From Science Magazine • Jun. 25, 2020

I thought of myself as hanging in the Store, a mote imprisoned on a shaft of sunlight.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou