mite
English
editEtymology
editFrom 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
edit- (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: mīt, IPA(key): /maɪt/
Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -aɪt
- Homophone: might
Noun
editmite (plural mites)
- Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acarina (aka Acari).
- 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;
- 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.
- 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.
- (colloquial, often used affectionately) A small or naughty person, or one people take pity on; rascal.
- 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.
Synonyms
edit- (small amount): see also Thesaurus:modicum.
Derived terms
edit- air-sac mite (Cytleichus nudus)
- a mite
- bee mite (Varroa destructor)
- beetle mite (Oribatoidea spp.)
- bird mite (Ornithonyssus spp.)
- blackberry mite (Aceria essigi)
- book mite
- broad mite
- carpet mite (Psoroptidae spp.)
- cat fur mite (Cheyletiella blakei)
- cheese mite (Tyrolichus casei)
- chicken mite
- clover mite (Bryobia praetiosa)
- common house mite (Glycyphagus domesticus)
- dog fur mite (Cheyletiella yasguri)
- dust mite (Reduvius personatus, Dermatophagoides spp.)
- ear mite (Otodectes cynotis)
- eyelash mite
- feather mite
- flour mite (Acarus siro)
- follicle mite
- fruit mite (Carpoglyphus lactis et al.)
- furniture mite (Glycyphagus domesticus)
- gall mite
- harvest mite (Trombicula spp.)
- house dust mite (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus)
- house mouse mite (Liponyssoides sanguineus)
- itch mite (Sarcoptes scabiei)
- mite box
- mite cheese
- moss mite
- peacock mite
- prune mite (Carpoglyphus lactis)
- quill mite
- rabbit ear mite
- rabbit fur mite (Cheyletiella parasitovorax)
- red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae)
- red velvet mite
- rust mite
- spider mite (Tetranychidae spp.)
- spiny rat mite (Laelaps echidnina)
- stock mites (Lepidoglyphus, Acarus, Tyrophagus, Tydeus, Cheyletus, Tarsonemus spp.)
- storage mite (Acarus siro)
- sugar mite (Lepidoglyphus destructor)
- trombiculid mite (Trombiculidae spp.)
- tropical rat mite (Ornithonyssus bacoti)
- water mite
- wheat mite (Acarus siro)
- widow's mite
- Willamette mite, Willamette spider mite (Tetranycus willamette)
- wing mite (Pterolichus obtusus)
- wood mite (Oribatidae spp.)
Translations
edit
|
Verb
editmite
- Eye dialect spelling of might.
Anagrams
editAu
editNoun
editmite
References
edit- transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66
Catalan
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editmite m (plural mites)
Related terms
editFurther reading
edit- “mite” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
French
editEtymology
editInherited 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
editNoun
editmite f (plural mites)
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editVerb
editmite
- inflection of miter:
Further reading
edit- “mite”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
editItalian
editEtymology
editBorrowed from Latin mītem (“mild, mature”).
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editmite (plural miti)
- mild
- moderate (price)
- balmy, mild (climate)
- quest'anno è stato un gennaio mite
- January has been mild this year
- meek (animal)
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- mite in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Anagrams
editLatin
editPronunciation
edit- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈmiː.te/, [ˈmiːt̪ɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈmi.te/, [ˈmiːt̪e]
Adjective
editmīte
References
edit- “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
editEtymology
editFrom 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
editmite f (plural mites)
Portuguese
editVerb
editmite
- inflection of mitar:
Volapük
editNoun
editmite
- 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-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- 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 pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/aɪt
- Rhymes:English/aɪt/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with collocations
- 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 borrowed from Latin
- Catalan terms derived from Latin
- 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 pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- French non-lemma forms
- French verb forms
- fr:Mites and ticks
- fr:Moths
- Italian terms borrowed from Latin
- Italian terms derived from Latin
- Italian 2-syllable words
- Italian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Italian/ite
- Rhymes:Italian/ite/2 syllables
- Italian terms with audio pronunciation
- Italian lemmas
- Italian adjectives
- 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
- Portuguese non-lemma forms
- Portuguese verb forms
- Volapük non-lemma forms
- Volapük noun forms