mite [OE] Old English mīte describing a tiny arachnid related to the ticks is a word of Germanic origin. Late Middle English mite now used in phrases such as poor little mite is probably from the same Germanic word but it described, during this period, a small Flemish copper coin (from Middle Dutch mīte). The ‘small size’ is reflected in the phrase the widow’s mite [L16th], which refers to Mark 12:42 ‘And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing’: although some sneered at her poor contribution it had virtue because she had given all she had.