SPECKLE

spot, speckle, dapple, patch, fleck, maculation

(noun) a small contrasting part of something; “a bald spot”; “a leopard’s spots”; “a patch of clouds”; “patches of thin ice”; “a fleck of red”

speckle, bespeckle

(verb) mark with small spots; “speckle the wall with tiny yellow spots”

stipple, speckle

(verb) produce a mottled effect; “The sunlight stippled the trees”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

speckle (countable and uncountable, plural speckles)

A small spot or speck on the skin, plumage or foliage.

(physics) The random distribution of light when it is scattered by a rough surface.

(Scotland) Kind; sort.

(cytology) A cluster of interchromatin granules in a nucleus

Verb

speckle (third-person singular simple present speckles, present participle speckling, simple past and past participle speckled)

To mark with speckles.

Source: Wiktionary


Spec"kle, n. Etym: [Dim. of speck; cf. D. spikkel.]

Definition: A little or spot in or anything, of a different substance or color from that of the thing itself. An huge great serpent, all with speckles pied. Spebser.

Spec"kle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Speckled; p. pr. & vb. n. Speckling.]

Definition: To mark with small spots of a different color from that of the rest of the surface; to variegate with spots of a different color from the ground or surface.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

27 January 2025

FISSILE

(adjective) capable of being split or cleft or divided in the direction of the grain; “fissile crystals”; “fissile wood”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

The New York Stock Exchange started out as a coffee house.

coffee icon