dappled means having a mottled or spotted skin or coat, dapple.
dappled is pronounced [ˈdæpəɫd].
Why “dappled” is a great word
Marked with spots or rounded patches of a different color or shade. Probably from a Scandinavian source; first attested in Middle English around 1400. Unlike mottled, which implies smeared, irregular patches, or speckled, which suggests a dusting of precise pinpricks, dappled describes a softer, more diffuse geometry. It is the light filtered through a canopy of young beech leaves, the hide of a fawn resting in deep bracken, or the shifting shadow on the bed of a shallow stream—each mark not a blemish but a breath of variation, a quiet reminder that beauty often wears a cloak stitched from light and its absence.
adj
- Having a mottled or spotted skin or coat, dapple.e.g.“To hear the lark begin his flight,
And singing startle the dull night,
From his watch-tower in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rise [...]”
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