Etymology
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molt (v.)

also moult, c. 1400, mouten, of feathers, hair, etc., "to be shed, fall out," from Old English *mutian "to change" (in bemutian "to exchange"), from Latin mutare "to change" (from PIE root *mei- (1) "to change"). Transitive sense, "to shed or cast (feathers, fur, skin)" is by mid-15c. With unetymological -l-, late 16c., on model of fault, etc. Related: Molted, moulted; molting, moulting. As a noun, "act or process of shedding an outer structure or appendage," from 1815.

Entries linking to molt

*mei- (1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to change, go, move," "with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services within a society as regulated by custom or law" [Watkins].

It forms all or part of: amiss; amoeba; azimuth; common; commune; communicate; communication; communism; commute; congee; demean; emigrate; emigration; excommunicate; excommunication; immune; immutable; incommunicado; mad; mean (adj.1) "low-quality;" mew (n.2) "cage;" mews; migrate; migration; mis- (1) "bad, wrong;" mistake; Mithras; molt; Mstislav; municipal; munificent; mutable; mutant; mutate; mutation; mutatis mutandis; mutual; permeable; permeate; permutation; permute; remunerate; remuneration; transmutation; transmute; zenith.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit methati "changes, alternates, joins, meets;" Avestan mitho "perverted, false;" Hittite mutai- "be changed into;" Latin mutare "to change," meare "to go, pass," migrare "to move from one place to another," mutuus "done in exchange;" Old Church Slavonic mite "alternately;" Czech mijim "to go by, pass by," Polish mijać "avoid;" Gothic maidjan "to change."

updated on February 12, 2019

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Dictionary entries near molt

Molly

Molly Maguire

mollycoddle

Moloch

Molotov

molt

molten

Moluccas

moly

molybdenum

mom

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