mute
/mjut/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.66 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters.
noun
A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant.
Example Sentences
- "Thus, while the mute Creation downward bend / Their sight, and to their Earthy Mother tend, / Man looks aloft; and with erected Eyes / Beholds his own hereditary Skies. / From ſuch rude Principles our Form began; / And Earth was Metamorphos'd into Man."
- "He ask’d, but all the Heav’nly Quire ſtood mute, / And ſilence was in Heav’n: […]"
- "[…] The heathens have broken into Thy Temple, and Thou art silent! Esau mocks Thy Children, and Thou remainest mute! Show thyself, arise, and let Thy Voice resound, Thou mutest among all the mute!"
- "As for the poor honest Maid, whom all the Story is built upon, and who ought to be one of the principal Actors in the Play, she is commonly a Mute in it:"
- "The girl left, and presently returned, followed by two male mutes, to whom the Queen made another sign."
- "He asked about the undertaking business, and how many mutes went down with Lady Estrich’s remains […]"
Etymology
From Middle English muet, from Anglo-Norman muet, moet, Middle French muet, from mu (“dumb, mute”) + -et, remodelled after Latin mūtus.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /mjut/
- British English: /mjuːt/