mole

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”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məʊl/, /mɔʊl/
• (Estuary English) IPA^(key): /mɒʊl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mol/, /moʊl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl

mole (plural moles)

1. A naevus, a pigmented, slightly raised, and sometimes hairy spot on the skin.

• birthmark
• nevus, naevus, nævus

• beauty mark

From Middle English molle (“mole”), molde, mole, ultimately 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.

• mool, moule, mowle, mold (obsolete)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məʊl/
• (Estuary English) IPA^(key): /mɒʊl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mol/, /moʊl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl

mole (plural moles)

1. Any of several small, burrowing insectivores of the family Talpidae; also any of southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae (golden moles) and any of several Australian mammals in the family Notoryctidae (marsupial moles), similar to but not closely related to Talpidae moles.
2. Any of the burrowing rodents also called mole-rats.
3. (espionage) 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.
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.

• molewarp
• mouldwarp

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.

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /məʉl/, [ˈmɔʊɫ]
• Rhymes: -əʊl

mole (plural moles)

1. (slang, derogatory, chiefly Australia and New Zealand) A moll, a bitch, a slut.

• moll

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məʊl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mol/, /moʊl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl

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.
3. (historical) An Ancient Roman mausoleum.

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).

• mol (dated)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məʊl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mol/, /moʊl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl

mole (plural moles)

2. (chemistry, physics) 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. [from 1897]

• gram molecule
• gram atom

In English since before the 20th century. From French môle f, from Latin mola (“millstone”), because it is a hardened mass.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məʊl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /mol/, /moʊl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊl

mole (plural moles)

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

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

• molé

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmoʊleɪ/, /ˈmoʊli/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

mole (countable and uncountable, plural moles)

1. One of several spicy sauces typical of the cuisine of Mexico and neighboring Central America, especially a sauce which contains chocolate and which is used in cooking main dishes, not desserts.^[2]

• melo-, Melo, elmo, Elmo, melo, moel, Lomé

From Old High German mālōn, mālēn, denominative of māl (“spot, stain”), from Proto-West Germanic *mālijan, from Proto-Germanic *mēlijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“dark color”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔːlə/

mole (third-person singular present molt, past participle jemolt)

1. (most dialects) to paint, draw, depict

• mahle

Inherited from Spanish moler (“to grind”).

molé

1. to mill; to grind

From French môle.

• IPA^(key): /moːlə/, [ˈmoːlə]

mole c (singular definite molen, plural indefinite moler)

1. mole, breakwater
2. pier, jetty

• Audio:

  (file)

mole

1. softly

• malmole

• mola (“soft”)

Borrowed from German Mol.

• IPA^(key): /mɔl/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

mole f (plural moles)

1. (chemistry, physics) mole

• “mole”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

mole

1. third-person singular present indicative of mulir

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.le/
• Rhymes: -ɔle
• Hyphenation: mò‧le

Borrowed from German Mol.

mole f (plural moli)

1. (chemistry, physics) mole

   Synonym: grammo-molecola

• millimole
• molare

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

mole

1. plural of mola

• elmo, melo, mélo

mole

1. second-person singular present active imperative of molō

mōle f

1. ablative singular of mōlēs

mole

1. Superseded spelling of móle.

mole

1. Alternative form of molle (“mole”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔ.lɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔlɛ
• Syllabification: mo‧le

mole m animal

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of mól

mole m inan

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of mol

• Hyphenation: mo‧le

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

mole m or f (plural moles, comparable, comparative mais mole, superlative o mais mole or molíssimo, diminutive molinho, augmentative molão)

1. soft
2. (informal) easy

• molemente

• moleza
• molhar

Learned borrowing from Latin mōlēs. Doublet of mó, an inheritance.

mole f (plural moles)

1. mass

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

mole f (plural moles)

1. Portugal form of mol (unit of amount)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

mole m (plural moles)

1. Alternative form of molhe (breakwater)

• “mole”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

mole (Cyrillic spelling моле)

1. third-person plural present of moliti

• IPA^(key): /ˈmole/ [ˈmo.le]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ole
• Syllabification: mo‧le

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin mollis. Doublet of muelle.

mole m or f (masculine and feminine plural moles)

1. soft, mild

   Synonym: muelle

Borrowed from Latin mōlēs.

mole f (plural moles)

1. hunk, chunk, slab (thing of large size or quantity)
   • 2021 January 2, Claudi Pérez, “Salvador Illa: el triunfo de la sobriedad”, in El País‎^[1]:

     En la sede del Ministerio de Sanidad, una mole racionalista con forma de cubo, María Luisa Carcedo procede al traspaso de carteras.

     At the headquarters of the Ministry of Health, a rationalist cube-shaped hunk, María Luisa Carcedo proceeds to the transfer of portfolios.

2. massiveness

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

mole m (plural moles)

1. (Mexico) mole, a type of stew

mole

1. inflection of molar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• “mole”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

mole

1. fish

• Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 397, →ISBN: “Zayse mo'le”
• Linda Jordan, A study of Shara and related Ometo speech varieties (Zergulla mòlɛ́)