Muted

How to spell muted

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce muted

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does muted mean?

1. adjectiveQuiet, softened, or subdued in sound, colour, or intensity.
2. verbReduced or switched off the sound of something, or made a noise softer.

Muted in a sentence

• adjective

  The office was decorated in muted shades of grey and beige.

• verb

  He muted the television as soon as the adverts began.

• adjective

  The announcement drew a muted response from the investors.

• verb

  She muted her microphone before the team meeting started.

Where does muted come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin mutus, meaning 'silent', 'speechless', or 'unable to speak'. Latin passed it into Old French as muet or mut, and English adopted 'mute' in the late 1300s for a person who does not or cannot speak, and later for the small device that softens the tone of a musical instrument. The form 'muted' is simply 'mute' plus the regular -ed ending, used both as the past tense of the verb (to silence or soften a sound) and as an adjective meaning subdued or quiet. Over time the adjective broadened beyond sound to describe gentle, low-key colours and restrained reactions. A useful spelling cue is that the root keeps its single 't' and the word ends in a plain -ed, with no doubling, because the syllable before it is not stressed in a way that triggers a doubled consonant.

How the word is built

• mute (from Latin mutus: silent)
• -ed (past tense / adjective suffix)