Motto

How to spell motto

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce motto

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does motto mean?

1. nounA short phrase that expresses a guiding principle, ideal, or rule of conduct.

Motto in a sentence

• The family business adopted honesty as its lasting motto.

• The school crest carries a Latin motto beneath the shield.

Where does motto come from?

Language of origin: Italian

The word came into English in the late 1500s straight from Italian, where motto meant simply 'a word' or 'a saying'. The Italian noun traces back to the Late Latin muttum, meaning 'an utterance' or 'a sound made with the mouth', which in turn came from the Latin verb muttire, 'to mutter or murmur'. So at its root a motto is literally a 'little mutter', a short pithy thing said aloud, an idea that survives in the modern sense of a compact phrase that captures a guiding belief. English first used it in the heraldic sense, the brief Latin or vernacular phrase attached to a coat of arms, before it broadened to any catchphrase or principle a person or group lives by. The doubled t and the final o both come directly from Italian, which is exactly the spelling trap: writers familiar with English plurals sometimes wobble between mottos and mottoes, and may forget the second t.

How the word is built

• motto (a single root borrowed whole from Italian: word, saying); the doubled -tt- and final -o are inherited intact from the Italian spelling