Meanings
nounmotto (plural mottos or mottoes)
plural mottos · plural mottoes
- governmentA sentence, phrase, or word, forming part of an heraldic achievement.
‘Gentlemen, I can tell you what the new queen will take as her motto. It is Bound to Obey and Serve.’
2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, Fourth Estate, page 10Synonyms: device
- A sentence, phrase, or word, prefixed to an essay, discourse, chapter, canto, or the like, suggestive of its subject matter; a short, suggestive expression of a guiding principle; a maxim.
It was the motto of a bishop eminent for his piety and good works, ... Serve God, and be cheerful.
1715 June 4 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 45. Tuesday, May 25. [1715.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC1 more example
“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”
1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC - obsoleteA paper packet containing a sweetmeat, cracker, etc., together with a scrap of paper bearing a motto.
verbmotto (third-person singular simple present mottos, present participle mottoing, simple past and past participle mottoed)
present singular third person mottos · participle present mottoing · participle past mottoed · past mottoed
- intransitiveTo compose mottos.
The singularity of his epigraphic strategy notwithstanding, Emerson does not draw attention to his own mottoing. One exchange suggests that his practice was a convention imposed from without.
2003, Nineteenth Century Prose, volume 30, page 304
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA sentence, phrase, or word, forming part of an heraldic achievement.
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More synonyms by meaning
nouna favorite saying of a group, organization or individual
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Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Afrikaans leuse
- leusesentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Arabic شِعَار
- شِعَار (šiʕār)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Basque goiburu
- goiburusentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Bengali নীতিবাক্য
- নীতিবাক্য (nitibakko)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Bulgarian деви́з, мо́то
- деви́з (devíz)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- мо́то (móto)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
Catalan divisa, lema
- divisasentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- lemasentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- lemasuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Chinese Mandarin 座右銘 /座右铭, 格言
- 座右銘 /座右铭 (zuòyòumíng)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- 格言 (géyán)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
- 座右銘 /座右铭 (zuòyòumíng)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
- 標語 /标语 (biāoyǔ)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
Czech motto, motto
- mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- mottosuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Danish motto, motto
- mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- mottosuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Dutch motto, wapenspreuk
- mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- wapenspreuksentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- lijfspreuksentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- mottosuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Esperanto devizo, moto
- devizosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- motosuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Estonian tunnuslause
- tunnuslausesentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Finnish motto, tunnuslause
- mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- tunnuslausesentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- vaalilausesentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- mottosuggestive sentence, phrase or word
- tunnuslausesuggestive sentence, phrase or word
French devise, devise
- devisesentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- devisesuggestive sentence, phrase or word
German Motto, Wahlspruch
- Mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- Wahlspruchsentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- Mottosuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Greek ρητό
- ρητό (ritó)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Hebrew מוֹטוֹ
- מוֹטוֹ (moto)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Hindi ध्येयवाक्य, सिद्धांत
- ध्येयवाक्य (dhyeyvākya)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- सिद्धांत (siddhānt)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- नीतिवाक्य (nītivākya)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Hungarian mottó, mottó
- mottósentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- mottósuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Icelandic kjörorð
- kjörorðsentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Indonesian semboyan
- semboyansentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Irish mana
- manasentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Italian motto
- mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Japanese モットー, 座右の銘
- モットー (mottō)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- 座右の銘 (zayūnomei)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- 標語 (hyōgo)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- モットー (mottō)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
- 標語 (hyōgo)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
Korean 좌우명, 모토
- 좌우명 (jwaumyeong)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- 모토 (moto)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- 표어 (pyoeo)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- 표어 (pyoeo)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
Latvian devīze
- devīzesentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Lithuanian devizas
- devizassentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Malay slogan, cogan kata
- slogansentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- cogan katasentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- motosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Norwegian Bokmål motto
- mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Polish dewiza, motto
- dewizasentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- dewizasuggestive sentence, phrase or word
- mottosuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Portuguese lema, divisa
- lemasentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- divisasentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- motesentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- lemasuggestive sentence, phrase or word
- motesuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Romanian deviză
- devizăsentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Russian деви́з, деви́з
- деви́з (devíz)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- деви́з (devíz)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
Scottish Gaelic facal-suaicheantais, ceann-sgrìobhadh
- facal-suaicheantaissentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- ceann-sgrìobhadhsuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Slovak motto
- mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Spanish mote, divisa
- motesentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- divisasentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- lemasentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- lemasuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Swedish motto, valspråk
- mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- valspråksentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- devissentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- mottosuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Tagalog bansag, lema
- bansagsentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- lemasentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- motosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- kasabihansuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Tamil குறிக்கோளுரை
- குறிக்கோளுரை (kuṟikkōḷurai)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Thai คำขวัญ, คติพจน์
- คำขวัญ (kam-kwǎn)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- คติพจน์sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- คำขวัญ (kam-kwǎn)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
- คติ (ká-dtì)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
- คติพจน์suggestive sentence, phrase or word
Turkish slogan, motto
- slogansentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- mottosentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- şiarsentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- mottosuggestive sentence, phrase or word
Ukrainian деві́з, га́сло
- деві́з (devíz)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- га́сло (háslo)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
- деві́з (devíz)suggestive sentence, phrase or word
Urdu شِعار
- شِعار (śi'ār)sentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Vietnamese tiêu ngữ
- tiêu ngữsentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Welsh arwyddair
- arwyddairsentence, phrase or word forming part of a heraldic achievement
Cite this entry
APA
motto. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/motto
MLA
“motto.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/motto. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “motto,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/motto.
Source: motto on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.