mite

Etymology

From Middle English mite, from Old English mīte (“mite, tiny insect”), from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (“biting insect”, literally “cutter”), from *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small”) or *meh₂y- (“to cut”). Akin to Old High German mīza (“mite”), Middle Dutch mīte (“moth, mite”), Dutch mijt (“moth, mite”), Danish mide (“mite”).

noun

1. Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acarina (aka Acari).
2. A small coin formerly circulated in England, rated at about a third of a farthing.
   One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands Shall buy and sell the miser's lands; 1803, William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
3. A lepton, a small coin used in Palestine in the time of Christ.
4. A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.
5. (sometimes used adverbially) Anything very small; a minute object; a very little quantity or particle.
   a mite
   It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a photograph, or a telephone or any other important thing — and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite — that is all he did. March 17 1903, Mark Twain, letter to Helen Keller
   "Well," I says, "I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough." She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going. 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D. Appleton and Company, →OCLC, →OL; republished New York, N.Y., London: D. Appleton and Company, 1914, →OCLC, pages 124–125
   "Silas, now," Esther Whitley had said, "would be a good one for you, Hannah. He's a mite on the old side, but he's steady, an' he's been wed before. He knows the ways of a woman better'n some." 1956, Janice Holt Giles, chapter 8, in Hannah Fowler, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC; republished Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 1992, page 69
   Those trousers are a mite too big, but you'll soon grow into them. 1959, Frances Cavanah, Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance, Chicago, Ill.: Rand McNally, →OCLC; Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance (ReadHowYouWant Classics Library), EasyRead large edition, U.S.A.: ReadHowYouWant, 2008, page 30
6. (colloquial, often used affectionately) A small or naughty person, or one people take pity on; rascal.
   “Tom told me that, but twasn't your fault, the little mite just couldn't wait to be born that's all.” A small smile played on Leah's lips. 2014, Lorraine F Elli, The Little Town Mouse

verb

1. Eye dialect spelling of might.