Etymology

motley crew

mot·ley crew

Today it means: A group of people of mixed background, especially one with a common goal. Full definition →

Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

From motley + crew. Originally used to refer to the crews of 17th- and 18th-century ships, which contained men of many different nationalities.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.