mickle

Meanings

Adjective

• (Very) great or large.

Adverb

• To a great extent.
• Frequently, often.

Noun

• A great amount.
• A small amount.
• Great or important people as a class.
• Greatness, largeness, stature.

Pronoun

• A great extent or large amount.

Origin

• From Middle English mickle, michel, mikel, mochel, muchel, mukel, from Old English miċel, myċel or Old Norse mikill ("great, tall; much"), both from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz ("great, large; many, much"), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s ("big, great"). The word is cognate with Icelandic mikill ("large in quantity or number; much; great").
• For the adverb and noun forms, compare Middle English muchel ("extensively, greatly, much") and Middle English muchel ("large amount").
• The noun sense “a small amount” was due to the proverb many a little makes a mickle being incorrectly rendered as many a mickle makes a muckle, leading to mickle being thought to mean “a small quantity” and muckle to mean “a large quantity”, even though muckle is a variant of mickle and both mean “a large quantity”.