mole

CEFRB1

/məʊl/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A small dark mark on the skin.

  2. 02

    noun

    A small animal that digs underground tunnels.

Examples

  • The dead body was identified by a mole on the cheek.

  • I'm troubled by this mole.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
4

Also pronounced

  • [ˈmɔʊɫ]
  • /ˈmoʊleɪ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Any of several small, burrowing, insectivorous mammals of the family Talpidae.

  2. Any of the burrowing rodents also called mole-rats.

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

More examples

In context

  • 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.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The small animal with big claws that digs tunnels, a blank, damaged the garden.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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”).