mole

See also: Mole, móle, molé, môle, molë, and mɔ̀lɛ̀

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English mole, mool, from Old English māl, mǣl (“a mole, spot, mark, blemish”), from Proto-Germanic *mailą (“spot, wrinkle”), from Proto-Indo-European *mel-, *melw- (“dark, dirty”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey-, *my- (“to soil, sully”). Cognate with Scots mail (“spot, stain”), Saterland Frisian Moal (“scar”), German dialectal Meil (“spot, stain, blemish”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌻 (mail, “spot, blemish”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məʊl/, /mɔʊl/
  • (Estuary English) IPA(key): /mɒʊl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /mol/, /moʊl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊl

Noun

mole (plural moles)

woman with a mole on her face
  1. A pigmented spot on the skin, a naevus, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy.
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English mol, molde, molle, from Old English *mol, from Proto-Germanic *mulaz, *mulhaz (“mole, salamander”), from Proto-Indo-European *molg-, *molk- (“slug, salamander”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)melw- (“to grind, crush, beat”). Cognate with North Frisian mull (“mole”), Saterland Frisian molle (“mole”), Dutch mol (“mole”), Low German Mol, Mul (“mole”), German Molch (“salamander, newt”), Old Russian смолжь (smolžʹ, “snail”), Czech mlž (“clam”).

Derivation as an abbreviation of Middle English molewarpe, a variation of moldewarpe, moldwerp (“mole”) in Middle English is unexplained and probably unlikely due to the simultaneous occurrence of both words. See mouldwarp.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məʊl/
  • (Estuary English) IPA(key): /mɒʊl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /mol/, /moʊl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊl

Noun

mole (plural moles)

a mole (animal)
a mole (excavator)
  1. Any of several small, burrowing insectivores of the family Talpidae.
  2. Any of the burrowing rodents also called mole rats.
  3. (espionage) An internal spy, a person who involves himself or herself with an enemy organisation, especially an intelligence or governmental organisation, to determine and betray its secrets from within.
  4. A kind of self-propelled excavator used to form underground drains, or to clear underground pipelines
  5. A type of underground drain used in farm fields, in which a mole plow creates an unlined channel through clay subsoil.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 3

From moll (from Moll, an archaic nickname for Mary), influenced by the spelling of the word mole (“an internal spy”), and due to /mɒl/ and /məʊl/ merging as [moʊl] in the Australian accent.

Pronunciation

Noun

mole (plural moles)

  1. (slang, pejorative) A moll, a bitch, a slut.
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 4

French môle or Latin mōles (“mass, heap, rock”).

the remains of a mole at Dunkirk

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məʊl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /mol/, /moʊl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊl

Noun

mole (plural moles)

  1. (nautical) A massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater or junction between places separated by water.[1]
    • 1847 — George A. Fisk, A pastor's memorial of the holy land
      [Alexander the Great] then conceived the stupendous idea of constructing a mole, which should at once connect [Tyre] with the main land; and this was actually accomplished by driving piles and pouring in incalculable quantities of soil and fragments of rock; and it is generally believed, partly on the authority of ancient authors, that the whole ruins of Old Tyre were absorbed in this vast enterprize, and buried in the depths of the sea [...]
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 1:
      Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land.
    • 1983 — Archibald Lyall, Arthur Norman Brangham, The companion guide to the south of France
      [about Saint-Tropez] Yachts and fishing boats fill the little square of water, which is surrounded on two sides by quays, on the third by a small ship-repairing yard and on the fourth by the mole where the fishing boats moor and the nets are spread out to dry.
  2. (rare) A haven or harbour, protected with such a breakwater.
Translations

Etymology 5

From German Mol.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məʊl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /mol/, /moʊl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊl

Noun

mole (plural moles)

  1. (chemistry, physics) In the International System of Units, the base unit of amount of substance; the amount of substance of a system which contains as many elementary entities (atoms, ions, molecules, etc.) as there are atoms in 0.012 kg of carbon-12. Symbol: mol. The number of atoms is known as Avogadro’s number. [from 1897]
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 6

From Latin mola.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /məʊl/
  • (US) IPA(key): /mol/, /moʊl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -əʊl

Noun

mole (plural moles)

  1. A hemorrhagic mass of tissue in the uterus caused by a dead ovum.
Translations

Etymology 7

From Spanish mole, from Classical Nahuatl mōlli (“sauce; stew; something ground”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

mole (countable and uncountable, plural moles)

chicken in a red mole sauce, with rice on the side
  1. One of several spicy sauces typical of the cuisine of Mexico and neighboring Central America, especially the sauce which contains chocolate and which is used in cooking main dishes, not desserts.[2]
Translations

References

  1. ↑ mole (accessed: March 30, 2007)
  2. ↑ mole (accessed: March 30, 2007)

Anagrams

Danish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /moːlə/, [ˈmoːlə]

Noun

mole c (singular definite molen, plural indefinite moler)

  1. mole, breakwater
  2. pier, jetty

Inflection

Esperanto

Adverb

mole

  1. softly

Antonyms

  • malmole

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mɔl/
  • Audio (Paris)(file)

Noun

mole f (plural moles)

  1. (chemistry, physics) mole

Further reading

Italian

Noun

mole f (plural moli)

  1. (chemistry, physics) mole

Synonyms

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology 1

Verb

mole

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of molō

Etymology 2

Noun

mōle f

  1. ablative singular of mōles

Lower Sorbian

Noun

mole

  1. superseded spelling of móle.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Portuguese mole, from Latin mollis, mollem, earlier *molduis, from Proto-Indo-European *(h₂)moldus (“soft, weak”).

Adjective

mole m, f (plural moles, comparable)

  1. Not hard; smooth or flexible; soft.
  2. (informal) Not difficult; easy.
Inflection

Etymology 2

From Latin mōles.

Noun

mole f (plural moles)

  1. mass

Etymology 3

Noun

mole m (plural moles)

  1. (Portugal) Alternative form of mol

Spanish

Etymology 1

From Latin mollis; cognate with muelle.

Adjective

mole (plural moles)

  1. soft, mild
Synonyms

Etymology 2

From Latin moles

Noun

mole f (plural moles)

  1. hunk, chunk, slab (thing of large size or quantity)
  2. massiveness

Etymology 3

From Classical Nahuatl mōlli (“sauce, something ground”).

Noun

mole m (plural moles)

  1. (Mexico) mole, a type of stew.

Etymology 4

Verb

mole

  1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of molar.
  2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of molar.
  3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of molar.
  4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of molar.

Zayse-Zergulla

Noun

mole

  1. fish

References

  • Takács, Gábor (1999-2008) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 397: “Zayse mo'le”
  • Linda Jordan, A study of Shara and related Ometo speech varieties (Zergulla mòlɛ́)
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