mould

mould · noun, verb¹

1. Latin · derived frommodulus
2. Old French · derived frommodle
3. Middle English · inherited frommolde, moulde“mould, cast”
4. English todaymould

Via Middle English molde, moulde (“mould, cast”) and Old French modle, from Latin modulus.

mould · noun, verb²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*mewk-“slick, soft”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*muglōną
3. Old Norse · derived frommygla
4. Middle English · inherited frommowlde
5. English todaymould

From Middle English mowlde, noun use and alteration of mowled, past participle of moulen, mawlen (“to grow mouldy”), from Old Norse mygla (compare dialectal Danish mugle), from Proto-Germanic *muglōną, diminutive and denominative of *mukiz (“soft substance”) (compare Old Norse myki, mykr (“cow dung”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mewk- (“slick, soft”). More at muck and meek.

mould · noun³

1. Old English · derived frommolde
2. English todaymould

From Old English molde. Cognate with Old High German molta, Old Norse mold and Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰 (mulda).

Mould · proper noun⁴

1. Anglo-Norman · derived fromMathilde
2. English todayMould

English surname, from the Middle English personal name Mauld, reduced from Anglo-Norman Mathilde, a form of the name Matilda. This was a learned borrowing much less common than the vernacular forms Mahalt, Maud and the reduced pet form Till.

Words from the same roots