mite
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]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
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: mīt, IPA(key): /maɪt/
Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -aɪt
- Homophone: might
Noun
[edit]mite (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
[edit]mite
- Eye dialect spelling of might.
Anagrams
[edit]Au
[edit]Noun
[edit]mite
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
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]mite m (plural mites)
Related terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “mite” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]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
[edit]Noun
[edit]mite f (plural mites)
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Verb
[edit]mite
- inflection of miter:
Further reading
[edit]- “mite”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
[edit]Italian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from Latin mītem (“mild, mature”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]mite (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
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- mite in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Anagrams
[edit]Latin
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈmiː.te/, [ˈmiːt̪ɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈmi.te/, [ˈmiːt̪e]
Adjective
[edit]mīte
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
[edit]Etymology
[edit]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
[edit]mite f (plural mites)
Portuguese
[edit]Verb
[edit]mite
- inflection of mitar:
Volapük
[edit]Noun
[edit]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-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