moat
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moat¹
- /məʊt/ UK
- /moʊt/ US
Sounds like mote · Rhymes with -əʊt
Where it comes from
From Middle English mote, from Old French mote (“mound, embankment”); compared also to Old French motte (“hillock, lump, clod, turf”), from Medieval Latin mota (“a mound, hill”), of Germanic origin, perhaps via Frankish *mot, *motta (“mud, peat, bog, turf”), from Proto-Germanic *mutô, *mudraz, *muþraz (“dirt, filth, mud, swamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mut- (“dark, dirty”).
Cognate with Alemannic German Mott, Mutte (“peat, turf”), Bavarian Mott (“peat, turf”), dialectal Dutch mot (“dust, fine sand”), Saterland Frisian mut (“grit, litter, humus”), Swedish muta (“to drizzle”), Old English mot (“speck, particle”). More at mote, mud, smut.
As term for a business strategy, popularized by American investor Warren Buffett.
noun moats
-
A deep, wide defensive ditch, normally filled with water, surrounding a fortified habitation.
Similar: fosse
- A characteristic of a business that enhances its resilience against competitive pressures, arising from the inherent nature of its products, services, brand, or other structural advantages. No matter how good your company's product is or how quickly the industry is growing, if there is no moat, competitors will invade your castle and burn it down.
- A circular lowland between a resurgent dome and the walls of the caldera surrounding it.
- A clear ring outside the eyewall of a tropical cyclone.
- A hill or mound.
verb moats · moating · moated
- To surround with a moat.
Moat²
Where it comes from
From moat, a topographic surname for someone who lived near a moat.
proper noun Moats
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: fosse, trench, ditch, pit, gulf, gap, divide, fluke, thee, motte, mount, mound, morass, molehead, marsh, mund
Translations
Every language
noun defensive ditch
| Español | fosa, foso, cava |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 해자 haeja, 호 ho, 성호 seongho |
| 日本語 | 堀 hori |
| 中文 | 護城壕 /护城壕 hùchéngháo, 護城河 /护城河 hùchénghé, 城壕 chéngháo, 城河 chénghé |
| हिन्दी | ख़ंदक़ xandaq, परिखा parikhā, खाई khāī, खाल khāl |
| Português | fosso |
| Français | douve |
| Deutsch | Burggraben, Wassergraben |
| Italiano | fossato, fosso, canale, canalone |
| Ελληνικά | τάφρος táfros |
| Română | șanț |
| Русский | ров rov |
| Tiếng Việt | hào, hố |
| العربية | خَنْدَق ḵandaq |
| עברית | חֲפִיר khafir |
Talk about this word "moat." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/moat. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. moat. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/moat "moat." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/moat.Cite this
@misc{moat_2026,
title = {moat},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/moat},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
