Marked with patches or spots of different colors or shades, like sunlight filtering through leaves onto forest ground. Creates a pattern of light and shadow that seems to dance and shift.
From Middle English 'dapple-gray,' describing horses with a mottled coat pattern. The word comes from Old Norse 'depill,' meaning a spot or patch. Originally used only for horses, it gradually expanded to describe any beautifully spotted or mottled appearance by the 14th century.
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