Etymology: < Anglo-Norman mut, mute, moute and Middle French, French mute pack of hounds trained for hunting (mid 12th cent. in Old French as muete ; later also as meute , moete , mote ), uprising, riot, expedition (12th–16th centuries) < post-classical Latin movita quarrel (7th cent.) < classical Latin movēre move v. + -ita , suffix forming feminine nouns, corresponding to -itus , suffix forming past participles (see -ite suffix²). Compare post-classical Latin mota, mueta pack of hounds (from c1136 in British sources; < Anglo-Norman or Old French).Sense 3 perhaps arose from confusion with post-classical Latin muta mew for hawks (see mew n.²).

Etymology: < mute v.¹ Compare French †émeu, †émeut the dung of a bird of prey (14th cent. in Middle French in form esmeult; 16th cent. as esmeut). N.E.D.'s ‘cold meutes’ (sense 2) is a transcription error for ‘cold mentes’ (see coldment n.).

Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps < mute adj. (in allusion to the mule's sterility).

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman muet, moet, muwet, etc., and Middle French, French muet (adjective) dumb, mute, silent (early 13th cent. in Old French), refraining from speech (early 13th cent.), (of a letter) not pronounced, silent (1647; compare sense A. 4b), (of wine) stopped in the process of fermentation (1761), (noun) a person who is unable to speak (late 12th cent.), servant of a Turkish sultan (1585) < Anglo-Norman mu , muu , mut and Old French mu , mut dumb, mute (11th cent.; < classical Latin mūtus : see below) + -et -et suffix¹. In β. forms remodelled after classical Latin mūtus; compare Middle French, French mut (early 16th cent.), and also Occitan mut (c1050), Spanish mudo (1250), Italian muto (a1294), Catalan mut (c1300).Classical Latin mūtus is attested as adjective in the senses dumb, inarticulate, silent, speechless, not accompanied by speech, plosive, and as noun in the sense person who is unable to speak (compare also mūta (neuter plural) dumb creatures, mūta (feminine singular) mute consonant, after ancient Greek ἄϕωνα, neuter plural); it is probably an imitative formation. Apparently attested earlier in surnames from the late 12th cent., as Robertus Mut (1187), Alanus le Mute (1275).

Etymology: < Middle French muetir (late 13th cent. in Old French; also as muitir ; 17th cent. in French as †mutir , †meutir ), probably aphetic < esmeutir (14th cent.; 13th cent. as esmeltir ), probably < a Germanic cognate of smelt v. (compare Middle Dutch smelten in this specific sense).

Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps a variant of moot v.¹, or perhaps < classical Latin mūtīre, variant of muttīre to murmur, mutter (see mot n.²). Compare earlier muting n.² Dict. Older Sc. Tongue s.v. mute v.¹ takes quots. 1643 and 1644 as evidence for moot v.¹

Etymology: Partly < mute adj., and partly < mute n.³

Etymology: < French muter (1799) < muet (see mute adj.). Compare earlier mute adj. 8.