mite

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See also: mité, mitë, mī-tê, and Mite

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A rust mite

Etymology

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From Middle English mite, from Old English mīte (“mite, tiny insect”), from Proto-West Germanic *mītā, from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (“biting insect”, literally “cutter”), from *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small”) or *meh₂y- (“to cut”). Akin to Old High German mīza (“mite”), Middle Dutch mīte (“moth, mite”), Dutch mijt (“moth, mite”), Danish mide (“mite”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mite (plural mites)

  1. Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acarina (aka Acari).
  2. A small coin formerly circulated in England, rated at about a third of a farthing.
  3. A lepton, a small coin used in Palestine in the time of Christ.
  4. A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.
  5. (sometimes used adverbially) Anything very small; a minute object; a very little quantity or particle.
    Synonyms: atom, speck; see also Thesaurus:modicum
    a mite
    • 1903 March 17, Mark Twain, letter to Helen Keller:
      It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a photograph, or a telephone or any other important thing — and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite — that is all he did.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      "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.
  6. (colloquial, often used affectionately) A small or naughty person, or one people take pity on; rascal.
    Synonyms: rogue, scamp; see also Thesaurus:troublemaker
    • 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 35:
      Today's children at Christmas-time take a cast-off toy to the Toy Service held in many churches, and it is a pretty sight to watch those tiny mites clutching their toys and parting from them.j
    • 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.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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mite

  1. Eye dialect spelling of might.

Anagrams

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Au

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Noun

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mite

  1. woman

References

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  • transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66

Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin mythos.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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mite m (plural mites)

  1. myth
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Further reading

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French

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French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology

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Inherited 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

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Noun

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mite f (plural mites)

  1. mite (arachnid)
  2. moth, particularly one whose larva destroys something stored by humans

Derived terms

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Verb

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mite

  1. inflection of miter:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Italian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin mītem (“mild, mature”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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mite (plural miti)

  1. mild
  2. moderate (price)
  3. balmy, mild (climate)
    quest'anno è stato un gennaio mite
    January has been mild this year
  4. meek (animal)

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • mite in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

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Latin

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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mīte

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of mītis

References

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  • “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

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Etymology

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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

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mite f (plural mites)

  1. (Jersey) mite

Portuguese

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Verb

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mite

  1. inflection of mitar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Volapük

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Noun

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mite

  1. dative singular of mit
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