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.
Oh, this word is pure poetry in motion! Picture sunlight streaming through tree branches, painting the ground with moving patches of gold and green — that's dappled light, and it's one of nature's most gorgeous shows. Every time you see shadows and light playing together, whether it's on a horse's coat, a forest floor, or even water reflecting through venetian blinds, you're witnessing something dappled. The word itself sounds like light dancing, doesn't it? DAP-pled, like little footsteps of sunshine!
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