Moult

Definition: Moult

Moult

Noun

1. Periodic shedding of the cuticle in arthropods or the outer skin in reptiles.

Verb

1. Cast off hair, skin, horn, or feathers; of animals.

Date "moult" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1601. (references)

Synonyms: Moult

Synonyms: ecdysis (n), molting (n), moulting (n), exuviate (v), molt (v), shed (v), slough (v). (additional references)

Synonyms by domain: moulted (medicinebiology & biotechnologyfood & agriculture, biology & biotechnology).

In birds, moulting or '\molting' is the routine shedding of old feathers. Also, the shedding of old skin in reptiles.

In arthropods, such as insects and crustaceans, molting describes the shedding of the exoskeleton, typically to allow for further growth. See ecdysis.

Moulting in birds:

Moulting in birds is a comparatively slow process, as a bird never sheds all its feathers at once; it must keep enough of its feathers to regulate its body temperature, repeal moisture, and fly. A moulting bird should never have any bald spots. If a pet bird has any bald spots, the bird should be brought to an avian veterinarian to search for possible causes for the baldness, which may include giardia, mites, or feather-plucking.

The process of moulting

1. The bird begins to shed some old feathers

2. Pin feathers grow in to replace the old feathers

3. As the pin feathers become full feathers, other feathers are shed.

This is a cyclical process that happens in many phases. In general, a moult begins at a bird's head, progresses down the body to its wings and torso, and finishes with the tail feathers.

Crosswords: Moult

English words defined with "moult": Molted, Moulted. (references)

Domain	Title
Books	Down to earth; the life and views of Ted Moult (reference) Histoire de Puget-Théniers : moult noble cité et ancienne (reference) Moult and Aging in European Passerines (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

"Moult" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 57.14% of the time. "Moult" is used about 77 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	57.14%	44	51,500
Lexical Verb (base form)	20.78%	16	87,710
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	12.99%	10	111,207
Noun (proper)	9.09%	7	133,076
Total	100.00%	77	N/A

Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "moult": moult-sites.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "moult"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		ndërroj puplat (Molt), ndërrim i puplave (Molt). (various references)

Arabic		‏فقد شعره (molt), ‏تساقط الريش (molt), ‏تساقط (breakdown, collapse, drop out, fall, molt, shake, shake off), ‏سقط شعره أو ريشه (molt), ‏طرح ريشه (molt), ‏طرح (deduct, excrete, fling, floor, heave, lay, molt, posit, put aside, put away, reject, squirt, subtract, subtraction, take away, throw away, toss). (various references)

Bulgarian		сменяне на перата, сменям си перата. (various references)

Czech		ztrácet (shed, waste), pelichat. (various references)

Danish		faeldning (moulting). (various references)

Dutch		vervelling (desquamation, ecdysis, peeling), rui (moulting). (various references)

Finnish		sulkiminen (moulting), sulkasato (moulting). (various references)

French		mue (Molt). (various references)

German		mausern (molt). (various references)

Greek		μαδώ (clean out, pluck, strip). (various references)

Hungarian		vedlés (Molt, shedding, skinning). (various references)

Italian		muda (Molt). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		抜け替わる (to fall out, to moult, to shed). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ぬけかわる (to fall out, to moult, to shed). (various references)

Manx		tilgey fynney, tilgey fedjagyn. (various references)

Pig Latin		oultmay

Portuguese		mudar de penas (molt), muda (relay, slip), perder as penas (molt), andar na muda (molt). (various references)

Romanian		nãpârli (Molt, Slough, slough its skin). (various references)

Russian		линять (bleed, exuviate, mew, molt). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		mitariti se (molt), mitariti (mew, molt), mitarenje (mew, molt), menjanje perja (molt), olinjati se (molt), linjati se (exuviate, molt), linjanje (exuviation, molt). (various references)

Spanish		muda (change, change of clothing, Molt, shedding). (various references)

Swedish		rugga (Molt, tease), ömsa skinn (slough off its skin). (various references)

Thai		ลอกคราบ (slough). (various references)

Turkish		tüy dökmek (exuviate, Molt), tüy dökme (exuviation, Molt, molting, moulting), deri değiştirmek (Molt, shed one's skin, Slough, slough away, slough off), deri değiştirme (Molt, molting, moulting, sloughing). (various references)

Ukrainian		линяти (fade, shell, skin, wash out), линяння. (various references)

Vietnamese		sự thay lông (molt), sự rụng lông (molt). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	ecdysis. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "moult": moulted, moulter, moulters, moulting, moults. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "l-m-o-t-u"
	-1 letter: lout, molt, tolu.
	-2 letters: lot, lum, mol, mot, mut, out, tom.
	-3 letters: lo, mo, mu, om, to, um, ut.
	Words containing the letters "l-m-o-t-u"
	+1 letter: moults, ultimo.
	+2 letters: moulted, moulter, mulatto, tumoral, turmoil.
	+3 letters: alumroot, botulism, comatula, emulator, flameout, gumbotil, lomentum, modulate, moistful, moulters, moulting, mouthful, mouthily, mulattos, multiton, outbloom, outclimb, outclomb, outsmile, pulmotor, solatium, tumulose, tumulous, turmoils, unmolten.
	+4 letters: alumroots, autosomal, botulinum, botulisms, colostrum, columbite, columnist, comatulae, contumely, emolument, emulation, emulators, flameouts, formulate, goalmouth, guillemot, gumbotils, homebuilt, leukotomy, lomentums, loudmouth, modulated, modulates, modulator, mouldiest, mountable, mouthfuls, mouthlike, mucolytic, mulattoes, multiatom, multicopy, multifold, multiform, multimode, multipion, multipole, multiroom, multitone, mutilator, occultism, outblooms, outclimbs, outfumble, outmuscle, outsmiled, outsmiles, petroleum, plutonium, pulmonate, pulmotors, rostellum, simulator, thumbhole, timeously, tremulous, trifolium, tumorlike, turmoiled, volumeter.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.