different between mickle vs sickle

English

Etymology

From Middle English mickle, michel, mikel, mochel, muchel, mukel (“much; many; large, tall; great”), from Old English mi?el, my?el (“big, large; great; much”) or Old Norse mikill (“great, tall; much”), both from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, large; many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *mé?h?s (“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”, adverb) and Middle English muchel (“large amount”, noun).

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”.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?k(?)l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?k?l/
• Rhymes: -?k?l
• Hyphenation: mick?le

Adjective

mickle (comparative more mickle, superlative most mickle)

1. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, especially Northumbria) (Very) great or large.

   Synonym: muckle

Usage notes

The use in Northumbrian is occasional; the word muckle is more common.

Derived terms

Adverb

mickle (comparative more mickle, superlative most mickle)

1. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland) To a great extent.
2. (obsolete) Frequently, often.

Noun

mickle (countable and uncountable, plural mickles)

1. (archaic, chiefly Scotland) A great amount.
2. (archaic, Scotland, originally erroneous) A small amount.
3. (obsolete) Great or important people as a class.
4. (obsolete) Greatness, largeness, stature.

Derived terms

• many a mickle makes a muckle

Determiner

mickle

1. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland and Northern England, especially Northumbria) Much; a great quantity or amount of.
2. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland and Northumbria) Most; the majority of.

Pronoun

mickle

1. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland) A great extent or large amount.

Alternative forms

• meikle
• michel (obsolete)
• muchell (obsolete)

References

Further reading

• mickle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “mickle”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN

Anagrams

• Melick, Mickel, melick

Scots

Alternative forms

• mikil, mekil, mukill, muckle

Etymology

From Old English mi?el, my?el.

Adjective

mickle (comparative mair mickle, superlative maist mickle)

1. much, great

Noun

mickle (uncountable)

1. a great amount

English

Etymology

From Middle English sikel (also assibilated in sichel), from Old English sicol, si?el, from Proto-Germanic *sikil? (“ploughshare”), of uncertain origin.Possibly a borrowing from Latin s?cula (“sickle”) or s?c?lis (“sickle”); itself from Proto-Albanian *tsik?, or, alternatively derived as a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *sek? (“ploughshare”), from Proto-Indo-European *seg-, a variant of Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”).

Cognate with West Frisian systel, sisel, sizel (“sickle”), Dutch sikkel (“sickle”), German Sichel (“sickle”). Related also to West Frisian sichte (“sickle”), Dutch zicht (“sickle”), German Low German Sichte, Sicht (“sickle”), German Sech (“the blade of a sickle or scythe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?kl?/
• Rhymes: -?k?l
• Hyphenation: sic?kle

Noun

sickle (plural sickles)

1. (agriculture) An implement having a semicircular blade and short handle, used for cutting long grass and cereal crops.
2. Any of the sickle-shaped middle feathers of the domestic cock.

Synonyms

• reap hook
• reaping hook

Coordinate terms

• scythe

Derived terms

• sickle cell
• hammer and sickle
• moonsickle

Translations

Further reading

• Sickle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

sickle (third-person singular simple present sickles, present participle sickling, simple past and past participle sickled)

1. (agriculture, transitive) To cut with a sickle.
2. (transitive) To deform (as with a red blood cell) into an abnormal crescent shape.
3. (intransitive) Of red blood cells: to assume an abnormal crescent shape.

Derived terms

• (transitive: to deform): sickler

Translations

Adjective

sickle (comparative more sickle, superlative most sickle)

1. Shaped like the blade of a sickle; crescent-shaped.

Derived terms

• sickle cell anaemia, sickle-cell anaemia, sickle-cell anemia

Translations

Anagrams

• Celiks, Eslick, Ickles, Leicks, ickles