motley

C1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈmɑtli/ UK /ˈmɒtli/ See IPA manual

Freq #35540

Meanings

1

adj
Made up of many different and oddly mixed kinds of people or things.

A motley crew of musicians, artists, and travellers shared the old house.
2

adj
Having patches of many different, usually bright, colours.

The jester wore a motley costume of red, green, and yellow.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · made up of many different... assorted diverse eclectic heterogeneous miscellaneous mixed multifarious sundry

2 adj · having patches of many... multi-colored

Word family

Derived forms motleyness

Related forms mottled

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

motley crew
a group made up of very different kinds of people

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Motley, recorded in late Middle English, originally described fabric woven from threads of different colors. By the late 16th century, it also referred to the multicolored costume traditionally worn by a court jester.

Etymology

From Middle English motle, from Anglo-Norman motteley (“parti-colored”), from Old English mot (“speck”). Doublet of mote. The English word can be analysed as mottle + -y.

motle Middle English motteley xno mot Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# motley

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈmɑtli/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈmɒtli/
**Frequency rank:** 35540

## Meanings
1. Made up of many different and oddly mixed kinds of people or things.
2. Having patches of many different, usually bright, colours.

## Examples
- A motley crew of musicians, artists, and travellers shared the old house.
- The jester wore a motley costume of red, green, and yellow.

## Derived Forms
- motleyness

## Related Forms
- mottled

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: motle
- Root: motteley
- Root: mot

## Etymology
From Middle English motle, from Anglo-Norman motteley (“parti-colored”), from Old English mot (“speck”). Doublet of mote. The English word can be analysed as mottle + -y.

## AI Etymology
Motley is from Middle English motle, from Anglo-Norman motteley (“parti-colored”), from Old English mot (“speck”). Doublet of mote. The English word can be analysed as mottle + -y. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern adjectival form is built from the named base and affix. In present-day use, it can mean made up of many different and oddly mixed kinds of people or things, or having patches of many different, usually bright, colours. Related forms include mottled. Derived formations include motleyness.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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