Mole
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mole¹
- /məʊl/ UK
- /mɔʊl/ UK
- /mɒʊl/ Estuary English
- /mol/ US
- /moʊl/ US
Rhymes with -əʊl
Where it comes from
From Middle English mole, mool, from Old English māl (“a mole, spot, mark, blemish”), from Proto-West Germanic *mail, 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”).
noun moles
- A naevus, a pigmented, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy spot on the skin.
mole²
- /məʊl/ UK
- /mɒʊl/ Estuary English
- /mol/ US
- /moʊl/ US
Rhymes with -əʊl
Where it comes from
From Middle English molle, molde, mole (“mole”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *mol(h), 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”), German Low German Mol, Mul, Mull (“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.
noun moles · mool · moule · mowle · mold
- Any of several small, burrowing, insectivorous mammals of the family Talpidae.
- Any of the burrowing rodents also called mole-rats.
- An internal spy; a person who involves themself with an enemy organisation, especially an intelligence or governmental organisation, to determine and betray its secrets from within.
- A kind of self-propelled excavator used to form underground drains, or to clear underground pipelines.
- A type of underground drain used in farm fields, in which a mole plow creates an unlined channel through clay subsoil.
verb moles · moling · moled · mool · moule
- To create a network of channels in (waterlogged soil) to improve drainage.
mole³
- /məʉl/ Australia
- [ˈmɔʊɫ] Australia
Rhymes with -əʊl
Where it comes from
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 [ˈmɔʊɫ] in the Australian accent.
noun moles
- A moll, a bitch, a slut.
mole⁴
- /məʊl/ UK
- /mol/ US
- /moʊl/ US
Rhymes with -əʊl
Where it comes from
From French môle or Latin mōles (“mass, heap, rock”).
noun moles
- A massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater or junction between places separated by water. [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 t
- A haven or harbour, protected with such a breakwater.
- An Ancient Roman mausoleum.
mole⁵
- /məʊl/ UK
- /mol/ US
- /moʊl/ US
Rhymes with -əʊl
Where it comes from
Calqued from German Mol; spelled as if it had come directly from molecule or Latin moles (the ultimate source of Mol and molecule in any event).
noun moles · mol
- In the International System of Units, the base unit of amount of substance; the amount of substance of a system which contains exactly 6.02214076×10²³ elementary entities (atoms, ions, molecules, etc.). Symbol: mol. The number of atoms is known as Avogadro’s number.
mole⁶
- /məʊl/ UK
- /mol/ US
- /moʊl/ US
Rhymes with -əʊl
Where it comes from
In English since before the 20th century. From French môle f, from Latin mola (“millstone”), because it is a hardened mass.
noun moles
- A hemorrhagic mass of tissue in the uterus caused by a dead ovum.
mole⁷
- /ˈmoʊleɪ/ US
- /ˈmoʊli/ US
Where it comes from
From Spanish mole, from Classical Nahuatl mōlli (“sauce; stew; something ground”).
noun moles · molé
- Any of several spicy sauces typical of the cuisine of Mexico and neighboring Central America countries, especially one that contains chocolate and is used in cooking main dishes, not desserts.
Mole⁸
- /məʊl/ UK
Sounds like mole · Rhymes with -əʊl
Where it comes from
From Latin mola (“mill”), or otherwise a back-formation from Molesey (“Mul's Island”).
proper noun
- A river in Surrey, England, tributary to the Thames.
- A river in Devon, England, tributary to the Taw.
- A surname.
