miteとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Middle English mite, from 古期英語 mīte (“mite, tiny insect”), 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”).

発音

• (Received 発音, General American) enPR: mīt, IPA^(key): /maɪt/
• 韻: -aɪt
• Homophone: might

名詞

mite (複数形 mites)

1. Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acarina (aka Acari).
2. 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;

3. A lepton, a small coin used in Palestine in the time of Christ.
4. A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.
5. (sometimes used adverbially) Anything very small; a minute object; a very little quantity or particle.
   • March 17 1903, 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. Appleton and Company, OCLC 35623305, OL 5535161W; republished New York, N.Y.; London: D. Appleton and Company, 1914, OCLC 37141511, pages 124–125:

     "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 937953041; 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 1039439343; 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.

6. (colloquial, often used affectionately) A small or naughty person, or one people take pity on; rascal.
   • 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.

同意語

• (small amount): see also Thesaurus:modicum.

派生語

動詞

mite

1. Eye dialect spelling of might.

アナグラム

• -time, METI, emit, it me, item, time