Mottle

Definition: Mottle

Mottle

Verb

1. Mark with spots or blotches of different color or shades of color as if stained.

2. Colour with streaks or blotches of different shades.

Date "mottle" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1883. (references)

Domain	Definition
Chemical Industry	A mixture of colours, or different shades of the same colour, producing a pattern effect. Source: European Union. (references)
	Presence of irregularly shaped and randomly distributed areas of non-uniform appearance in colour, gloss or sheen. Source: European Union. (references)
Food & Agriculture	A figure produced by irregular wavy grain that gives the appearance of light and dark spots or blotches. Source: European Union. (references)
	The irregular, diffuse patterns of chlorotic areas interspersed with normal green leaf tissue. Source: European Union. (references)
Mining	The spotted, blotched, or variegated appearance of any mottled surface, such as of wood or marble; esp., in metallurgy, the appearance of pig ironof a quality between white and gray. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Mottle

Synonyms: blotch (v), cloud (v), dapple (v), streak (v). (additional references)

"Mottle" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 50.00% of the time. "Mottle" is used about 4 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (proper)	50%	2	245,945
Noun (singular)	50%	2	245,945
Total	100.00%	4	N/A

Expression using "mottle": mottle figure. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "mottle": mottle-faced, mottle-leaved.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "mottle"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		model lara-lara, laracoj, laracim. (various references)

Arabic		‏نقط (dapple, dot, fleck, pit, point, punctuate, speck, speckle, sprinkle, stipple, trickle), ‏لون برقش, ‏الوكتة نقطة ملونة, ‏رقش (variegate). (various references)

Bulgarian		оцветявам (color, colour, illuminate, imbrue, paint, pigment, stain, tincture, tint), нашарвам, петно (attaint, blob, blot, blotch, dab, daub, defilement, flaw, fleck, note, offset, reflection, slur, smear, smirch, smudge, soil, spot, stain, stigma, sully, taint, tarnish), изпъстрям (dapple, freak, lace, pepper, sprinkle). (various references)

Czech		skvrnka (splodge, splotch), pomalovávat, krápat (drizzle). (various references)

Danish		marmorering (marbling, mottle figure, mottling), perling (crawling, crystallization, mottling). (various references)

Dutch		schiften/kralen (mottling), geschakeerd (mottle figure), gemarmerd (mottle figure). (various references)

Finnish		kirjavuus (diversity). (various references)

French		moutonnement, moucheter, moiré (moire), marbrure (mottling), marbrer, tacheter, jaspage (mottling), effet moucheté (mottling), bigarrure (mottling). (various references)

German		Marmorierung (marbling, mottle figure, mottling), Sprenkeleffekt (mottling), Perlen (beads, bubble, effervesce, fizz, pearlies, pearls, roll, sparkle, trickle), Fleckung (mottling). (various references)

Greek		στίγματα (stigmata), στίζω (punctuate, speck, speckle, spot), ποικίλλω (diversify, vary, vermiculate). (various references)

Hebrew		ל� מר (diversify, spot, stipple, variegate). (various references)

Hungarian		foltossá tesz (to blotch), folt (blemish, blob, blot, blotch, blur, cloud, clout, crock, dab, flaw, freckle, gout, patch, smear, smirch, smudge, speck, speckle, splash, splatter, splodge, splotch, spot, stain, tarnish). (various references)

Italian		mosaicatura (mottling), marezzatura (moire), maculatura diffusa (mottling), macchiare (blot, blotch, dapple, dirty, Flavor, flavour, Mark, smear, smirch, smudge, soil, speckle, spot, stain, sully, tarnish), superficie a marezzatura (mottle figure), screziare (streak), chiazzare (smudge, speck, speckle), chiazza (Mark, patch, smudge, speckle, spot, stain). (various references)

Manx		breckey (bespeckle, brindle, chequer, chequering, dapple, dappled, embroider, freckle, jotting, pebble, rough, sharpen, spot, sprinkle, variegate, variegation), boayl breck. (various references)

Pig Latin		ottlemay

Portuguese		mosqueado (freaked, mottled, pepper-and-salt, powdered). (various references)

Romanian		marmora (cloud, grain), împestriţa (fleck, interlard, speck, speckle). (various references)

Russian		испещрять (dapple, flecker, powder, specking, speckling, spot). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		išarati (dapple, streak off, variegate), šara (design, pattern, print, tracery). (various references)

Spanish		motear (speckle), pequeña mancha (speck), jaspeado (marbled, marbling, mottled, variegated). (various references)

Swedish		marmorering (marbling, mottle figure, mottling), marmorera (cloud, marble), skäckighet (mottling), göra fläckig (dapple, fleck, flecker), fläck (blemish, blot, blotch, blur, discoloration, fleck, flick, Mark, patch, slur, smear, smirch, speck, speckle, splodge, splotch, spot, stain, taint). (various references)

Turkish		lekelemek (asperse, attaint, bastardize, bedaub, befoul, besmirch, blacken, blemish, blot, blotch, blur, brand, breathe upon, cloud, defile, dirty, discolor, discolour, dishonor, fleck, flecker, maculate, slur, smear, smirch, smudge, smutch, soil, spatter, speckle, splodge, splotch, spot, sprinkle, stain, stigmatize, sully, taint, tarnish), leke (attaint, blemish, blob, blot, blotch, blur, cloud, discoloration, discolouration, fleck, Mackle, macula, maculation, shame, slur, smear, smirch, soil, splodge, splotch, spot, stain, stigma, taint, tarnish), beneklemek (dapple, Dot, fleck, flecker, speck, speckle, spot), benek (Dot, fleck, freckle, macula, speck, speckle, splash, splodge, splotch, spot). (various references)

Ukrainian		цяткувати (dapple, flecker), цятка (beauty spot, fleck), плямисте забарвлення. (various references)

Vietnamese		vằn, đường vằn vết chấm lốm đốm vải len rằn. (various references)

Welsh		britho (dazzle, speckle). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "mottle": mottled, mottler, mottlers, mottles. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Mottle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: dottle, Gottleb, Gottleib, kottle, mattle, mattole, mitle, mittel, mittle, mostle, Motl, motle, motlee, Motler, motlet, mottele, Mottely, Mottl, mottler, mottley, murtle, Mutla, Mutloe, Mutlu, muttley, nottle. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "e-l-m-o-t-t"
	-1 letter: lotte, motel, motet, motte, totem.
	-2 letters: melt, mole, molt, mote, mott, tole, tome, tote.
	-3 letters: elm, let, lot, mel, met, mol, mot, ole, tel, tet, toe, tom, tot.
	-4 letters: el, em, et, lo, me, mo, oe, om, to.
	Words containing the letters "e-l-m-o-t-t"
	+1 letter: matelot, mottled, mottler, mottles.
	+2 letters: leftmost, matelote, matelots, motliest, mottlers, omelette, palmetto.
	+3 letters: allotment, extolment, leitmotif, leitmotiv, matelotes, mistletoe, motleyest, mulattoes, multitone, omelettes, palmettos, tormentil, tremolite, voltmeter.
	+4 letters: allotments, bottomless, completest, completist, complotted, ethambutol, extolments, impotently, leitmotifs, leitmotivs, letterbomb, letterform, malcontent, metabolite, methylator, mettlesome, mistletoes, motilities, nettlesome, palmettoes, petrolatum, tormentils, tremolites, tremolitic, voltmeters.
	+5 letters: automatable, committable, competently, completists, contemplate, controlment, dilatometer, dilatometry, ethambutols, etymologist, footlambert, lamentation, legitimator, letterbombs, letterforms, lithotomies, malcontents, mentholated, metabolites, methylation, methylators, metrologist, milquetoast, molestation, mortalities, multicoated, petrolatums, recommittal, teetotalism, telecommute, temporality, testimonial, tetrazolium, tolbutamide, toothsomely, twelvemonth.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.