moot
1
[ moot ]
/ mut /
adjective
verb (used with object)
noun
Origin of moot
1
before 900; Middle English
mot(
e) meeting, assembly, Old English
gemōt; cognate with Old Norse
mōt, Dutch
gemoet meeting. See
meet1
SYNONYMS FOR moot
historical usage of moot
The modern noun
moot comes from the Old English
mōt “meeting, court,” typically used in compounds such as
gemōt “(legislative or judicial) assembly, council,”
folcmōt, folcgemōt “popular assembly (of a town or shire),” and
witena gemōt “assembly of wise men.” Nouns in other Germanic languages related to
mōt include Old Saxon
mōt (Old Saxon was the earliest recorded form of Low German; it was spoken in northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, and southern Denmark) and Middle High German
muoz. All of these nouns derive from Germanic
mōta-, from which was derived the verb
mōtjan, which becomes
mōtian in Old Saxon,
mētan and
moeta in Old English, and
meet in modern English.
In 16th-century England, a moot was “a hypothetical case or point for law students to practice on.” This is where we get the terms moot point and moot court. Moot later developed the sense “open to discussion, debatable, doubtful,” and finally “impossible to be settled.” In American legal usage in the first half of the 19th century, moot developed an additional sense “having no effect, purely academic, abstract” (now used only outside legal contexts), but American usage also retained the original sense “remaining open for debate or consideration,” leaving the meaning of moot point in conversation up for grabs: Is it a debatable point, or irrelevant?
In 16th-century England, a moot was “a hypothetical case or point for law students to practice on.” This is where we get the terms moot point and moot court. Moot later developed the sense “open to discussion, debatable, doubtful,” and finally “impossible to be settled.” In American legal usage in the first half of the 19th century, moot developed an additional sense “having no effect, purely academic, abstract” (now used only outside legal contexts), but American usage also retained the original sense “remaining open for debate or consideration,” leaving the meaning of moot point in conversation up for grabs: Is it a debatable point, or irrelevant?
OTHER WORDS FROM moot
moot·er, noun moot·ness, nounWORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH moot
moot muteWords nearby moot
moose river,
moosebird,
moosehead lake,
moosemilk,
moosewood,
moot,
moot court,
moot hall,
moot point,
mop,
mop up
British Dictionary definitions for moot point
moot
/ (muːt) /
adjective
subject or open to debate
a moot point
verb
(tr)
to suggest or bring up for debate
(intr)
to plead or argue theoretical or hypothetical cases, as an academic exercise or as vocational training for law students
noun
a discussion or debate of a hypothetical case or point, held as an academic activity
(in Anglo-Saxon England) an assembly, mainly in a shire or hundred, dealing with local legal and administrative affairs
Derived forms of moot
mooter, nounWord Origin for moot
Old English
gemōt; compare Old Saxon
mōt, Middle High German
muoze meeting
Idioms and Phrases with moot point
moot point
A debatable question, an issue open to argument; also, an irrelevant question, a matter of no importance. For example, Whether Shakespeare actually wrote the poem remains a moot point among critics, or It's a moot point whether the chicken or the egg came first. This term originated in British law where it described a point for discussion in a moot, or assembly, of law students. By the early 1700s it was being used more loosely in the present sense.