speckle

Meanings

Noun

• A small spot or speck on the skin, plumage or foliage.
• The random distribution of light when it is scattered by a rough surface.
• Kind; sort.
• A cluster of interchromatin granules in a nucleus.

Verb

• To mark with speckles.

Origin

• The noun is from Middle Dutch spekkel; the verb was later coined from the noun, in the late 16th century.