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Etymology and origin of the English word mite

Pronunciation

mite1 tiny arachnid

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1000 Antwerp Glossary
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *mītā via Middle English, Old English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *mītǭ

Etymology

The arachnid is inherited from Middle English mite, also myte,[2][3] inherited from Old English mīte,[4][5][6][7][3] inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mītā, from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (“biting insect”).[1] It is cognate with Middle Dutch mīte (“woodworm, cheese-mite”), Dutch mijt, Middle Low German mīte, Old High German mīza (“gnat”), Norwegian mit and Danish mide.[4][8][9][6] The OED calls its further origin uncertain and disputed.[4] Kroonen thinks it likely derived from Proto-Germanic *maitaną (“to cut”), in view of meta (“to gnaw”) and mita (“to prick”);[8] Etymonline likewise explains it as "the cutter", in reference to its bite, comparing Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (maitan, “to cut, hew”) and Old High German meizan (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mai- (“to cut”), the root of maim.[5] It also allows an original sense "something small", from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small”),[5] and Orel compares Latin minor (“smaller”).[10] Old French mitte, now French mite (“moth”), is probably from Middle Dutch.[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A very small insect or arachnid: Old English, in the Antwerp Glossary,[4] with Barnhart dating Old English mīte to about 1000.[3] Bosworth–Toller records it glossing Latin tarmus, a woodworm.[7] The Middle English form myte is recorded in 1373,[3] and Chaucer's Wife of Bath speaks of "thise wormes ne thise moththes ne thise mytes" that never fret her clothes.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In early use the word covered any of various tiny arachnids and insects;[4] the Shorter Oxford mentions especially a small parasite of hawks.[11] Johnson (1755) still defined it as a small insect found in cheese or corn, a weevil, quoting Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well: "Virginity breeds mites, much like a cheese".[12] Later it was restricted to the arachnids of the group Acari other than ticks,[4] and Hoad notes that the everyday example is the cheese mite.[6] Names with a defining word, such as for the host or habitat of a particular mite, appear from 1631, in Jonson.[4] In 18th-century slang mite was a humorous name for a cheesemonger (1765–1829), first in Foote's The Commissary.[4][13]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – a tiny insect or arachnid, in Old English.[4][3]
  • 1373 – Middle English myte.[3]
  • 1631 – with a word naming the host or habitat.[4]
  • 1765 – slang, a cheesemonger (obsolete by 1829).[4][13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Any of many tiny arachnids of the order Acari (Acarina), apart from the ticks, some living freely and others parasitic on animals or plants or feeding on stored food.[14][15][16][4]

Word family

  • miticide
  • follicle mite
  • gall mite
  • rust mite

mite2 small coin, tiny amount

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1375 before 1375, William of Palerne
Borrowed from
Middle Dutch mīte

Etymology

The coin and small amount is borrowed from Middle Dutch mīte, also meite, a small copper coin and figuratively a little bit,[4][2][17] or Middle Low German mīte,[2][14][3][15] and perhaps partly via Middle French mite, recorded in Old French from 1288 for a small Flemish copper coin.[4][16] The French word is itself from Dutch.[5][9][2] The Dutch word was probably first a specific use of the word for the arachnid (mite1),[4][11][17][9][3] and Etymonline derives it from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small coin of low value, at first the Flemish copper coin, and in proverbs the type of a very small amount: before 1375, in William of Palerne.[4][2] Barnhart dates the sense "little bit, jot" to before 1375,[3] Etymonline to the mid 14th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Flemish sources the coin was apparently worth a third of a Flemish penny.[4][17] From the late 14th century mite was the usual English rendering of the Vulgate's Late Latin minūtum, translating Ancient Greek λεπτόν (leptón), in Mark 12:42, where two mites make a farthing; hence the word was popularly taken to mean half a farthing.[4][11] The OED notes that the Wycliffite versions have mynutis,[4] whereas Etymonline says mite was used there since Wycliffe;[5] Weekley finds the widow's mite already alluded to in Piers Plowman.[18] Cotgrave, quoted by Weekley, called the French mite "the smallest of coynes".[18] From the poor widow's offering came the sense of a small contribution, as much as the giver can afford (1591).[4] The word was also a very small weight, one twentieth of a grain, from Gower on;[4] a jot or whit (about 1400), later colloquially a mite, somewhat;[4] and a tiny portion (1605).[4] From 1594 it was applied to a very small creature, especially a small child,[4] a use Weekley thinks partly influenced by the arachnid.[18]

Timeline

  • before 1375 – a small coin of low value; in proverbs, a very small amount.[4][2][3]
  • before 1393 – a very small weight, one twentieth of a grain, in Gower.[4]
  • c. 1400 – a jot, a whit.[4]
  • 1591 – a small contribution of money, especially all that the giver can afford.[4]
  • 1594 – a very small creature, especially a small child.[4]
  • 1605 – a tiny fragment or portion.[4]
  • 1977 – in North America, a sports category for young children.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A very small child or animal, especially one regarded with pity: the poor little mite.[15][4][19]
  2. A small contribution of money, especially from someone who has little; see widow's mite.[15][4]
  3. A very small amount; a tiny particle or object.[15][4]
  4. a mite (informal): slightly, somewhat: The coffee was a mite too strong.[4]
  5. (historical) A coin of very low value, originally a Flemish copper coin.[4][11][2]

Word family

  • widow's mite

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  8. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  17. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  18. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  19. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

  • wagon · also from Middle Dutch
  • nap · also from Middle Dutch
  • tick · also from Middle Dutch
  • prop · also from Middle Dutch
  • rover · also from Middle Dutch
  • groove · also from Middle Dutch
  • mesh · also from Middle Dutch
  • slack · also from Middle Dutch
Cite this entry

“Mite.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/mite. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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