mickle

Meaning

Adj

(Very) great or large.

Adv

1. To a great extent.
2. (obsolete) Frequently, often.

Noun

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

Det

1. Much; a great quantity or amount of.
2. Most; the majority of.

Pron

A great extent or large amount.

Synonyms

muckle

mass

slew

good deal

passel

peck

pile

plenty

pot

deal

great deal

raft

batch

sight

lot

spate

stack

hatful

tidy sum

mess

heap

wad

mint

quite a little

mountain

⛰️

flock

volume

stout

amounts

big

big time

bulk

bulky

capital

extremely

great

greatly

highly

hulking

keenly

large

largely

majuscule

mighty

much

number

🔢

quantities

quantity

remarkably

sorely

amain

uppercase

very

Hyphenated as

mick‧le

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmɪk(ə)l/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: mickle

Inherited from Old English: miċel

Cognate with Icelandic: mikill

Cognate with Middle English: muchel

In summary

From Middle English mickle, michel, mikel, mochel, muchel, mukel (“much; many; large, tall; great”), from Old English miċel, myċel (“big, large; great; much”), from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, large; many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”). The word is cognate with Icelandic mikill (“large in quantity or number; much; great”). Doublet of much and muckle.
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”.