The story
- Old English · derived frommot“speck”
- Anglo-Norman · derived frommotteley“parti-colored”
- Middle English · inherited frommotle
- English todaymotley
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.
Words from the same roots
Old Englishmot all →
mootmote
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.