mote

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a tiny particle or speck, especially one visible in the air

   A mote of dust drifted through the shaft of sunlight.

2. 2
   verb

   archaic: may or might

   What fate he mote encounter beyond the gate remained unknown.

The particle noun is inherited from Old English mot ("small particle"). The separate archaic modal verb comes from Old English motan ("be permitted or able; be obliged"), the same Germanic verb that produced modern must.

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