Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *mey-?
Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂-der.
Latin mūtōder.
Old English *mutian
Middle English mouten
English moult
From Middle English mouten, from Old English *mutian (attested in bemutian, “to exchange for”), from Latin mūtō (“to (re)move, change, vary, mutate, exchange, abandon”). Doublet of mute and mutate. The unetymological ⟨l⟩ was introduced into the spelling by mistakenly assuming a French origin with -l- as in fault and vault; compare solder, which in contrast has an etymological ⟨l⟩ (from Latin solidāre, “to make solid“) but was historically pronounced without that grapheme's sound.
Meanings
The process of shedding or losing a covering of fur, feathers or skin etc.
Some birds change colour during their winter moult.
The skin or feathers cast off during the process of moulting.
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *mey-?
Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂-der.
Latin mūtōder.
Old English *mutian
Middle English mouten
English moult
From Middle English mouten, from Old English *mutian (attested in bemutian, “to exchange for”), from Latin mūtō (“to (re)move, change, vary, mutate, exchange, abandon”). Doublet of mute and mutate. The unetymological ⟨l⟩ was introduced into the spelling by mistakenly assuming a French origin with -l- as in fault and vault; compare solder, which in contrast has an etymological ⟨l⟩ (from Latin solidāre, “to make solid“) but was historically pronounced without that grapheme's sound.
Meanings
(intransitive) To undergo the process of shedding or losing a covering of hair or fur, feathers, skin, horns, etc, and replacing it with a fresh one; to change by moulting.
The engorged nymphae were collected on the 2nd August, 1910, and moulted into adults on the 19th September, 1910. Later, they were placed on cattle […] 1911, Report of the Director of Veterinary Research, page 212:
Tammy will get the girl a phone and some clothes, […] Some woman from a Georgia hive will build a fake ID and ship it up in a few weeks. Whoever Jess was before will shrivel away, and a new person will molt—so to speak—into its place. 2025, Andrew Joseph White, chapter 2, in You Weren't Meant to Be Human: A Novel:
Birds moult periodically.
With the personnel changes at Oxford, Reading could moult into a new centre for Wittgenstein studies, which also included John Preston and Max de Gaynesford . 2022, Christoph C. Pfisterer, Nicole Rathgeb, Eva Schmidt, Wittgenstein and Beyond: Essays in Honour of Hans-Johann Glock, page 1994:
[…] One of the few Streak-headed Mannikins which I kept moulted into its second-year plumage with a pair of white feathers on its breast and a Scaly-breasted Munia grew several white primaries, as did a White-spotted Mannikin. 2010, Robin Restall, Munias and Mannikins, page 19:
[…] to grow and molt into a new version of herself. 2020, Kurone Kanzaki, Demon Lord, Retry! Volume 4:
[…]; but each bird, Red or Black, male or female, has invariably moulted true to colour - a Black has never moulted into a Red. 1906, The Avicultural Magazine, volume 4, page 80:
[…] molted into a new suit so that he could fly. 1899, The Chautauquan, volume 29, page 134:
(transitive) To shed in such a manner.
Turtle-droves […] moulted their feathers. 1929, Percy MacKaye, Claude Merton Wise, The Sphinx: A Comedy in One Act, page 35:
cs přesrstit se (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · de (sich) mausern (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · it fare la muta (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · tr gömlek değiştirmek (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · fr muer (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · is hleypa hömum (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · tr tüy dökmek (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · es echar (to shed in such a manner (transitive form)) · es caérsele (to shed in such a manner (transitive form)) · cs svlékat (kůži, krunýř) (to shed in such a manner (transitive form)) · cmn 換毛 /换毛 (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · de (sich) häuten (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · nl vervellen (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · ja 抜け替わる (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · is fara úr hárum (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · cs svlékat se (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · az tüləmək (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · ja 生え変わる (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · pt mudar (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · bg сменям си перата (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · alt тӱлеер (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · ru линя́ть (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · cs pelichat (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · cmn 換羽 /换羽 (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · nl verharen (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · gl mudar (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · fr muer (to shed in such a manner (transitive form)) · mi whakamāunu (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · sv rugga (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · es mudar (to shed in such a manner (transitive form)) · mi turuki (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · nl muiten (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · fi luoda nahkansa (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · cs shazovat (paroží, srst) (to shed in such a manner (transitive form)) · it mutare (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · cs přepeřit (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · fr dumer (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · nl ruien (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · sv ömsa (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · hu vedlik (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · nn røyta (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · tr deri değiştirmek (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · cmn 蛻皮 /蜕皮 (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · ro năpârli (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · sv rugga (to shed in such a manner (transitive form)) · fi pudottaa höyhenensä (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · sl leviti (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · es pelechar (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · gl esplumar (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · sv ömsa (to shed in such a manner (transitive form)) · cs línat (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · es perder (to shed in such a manner (transitive form)) · es desprender (to shed in such a manner (transitive form)) · is fella fjaðrir (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal) · tr tülemek (to shed hair, feathers, skin, horns etc., as an animal)