speckle
/ˈspɛk(ə)l
/noun (usually speckles)
A small spot or patch of colour: it has white speckles on its forewing...
- Her purse jingled as she rummaged through it before removing a single handkerchief, rosy pink with white speckles, and dabbing her tweaked brow.
- The water was spreading over the floor, speckles of white sticking to the floor.
- The tiniest speckles of blood still littered the ground at his feet, hardly visible, but there all the same.
verb [with object]
Mark with a large number of small spots or patches of colour: gulls whirled round the masts, speckling the docks with guano...
- They are soft brown in colour and speckled like an egg.
- They mournfully gazed at the empty floor that was earlier that day full of brown eggs speckled with grey spots.
- It was a strange coloured little creature, speckled brown like tortoiseshell.
Synonyms
flecked, speckly, specked, freckled, freckly, spotted, spotty, dotted, stippled, sprinkled, mottled, dappled, blotchy, brindled
Origin
Late Middle English (as a noun): from Middle Dutch spekkel; the verb (late 16th century) from the noun or a back-formation from speckled.