a mite tired
1
7.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
un poco cansado
- She gave a mite tired smile after staying up late to finish her project.
Examples
-
"You know, I'm feelin' a mite tired myself.
Fiction book (1999) -
After a long day at work, I'm feeling a mite tired and just want to relax on the couch.
-
He admitted that he was a mite tired from the hike, but he enjoyed every moment.
Synonyms
129
3.2
Feeling very tired after hard work or long effort
Antonyms
How Tired
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'mite' (informally 'slightly') modifies 'tired', with the article 'a' marking the phrase, so the meaning 'slightly tired' is immediately derivable from the constituents. Although 'a mite' is informal/regional, the semantic relation is transparent and follows a common pattern learners encounter in their L1s, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will understand it.
Etymology
A mite tired uses mite, a word that once meant a very small insect or a tiny coin, to give the picture of only a little bit of something; that tiny image shows only a little tiredness, so it means 'slightly tired'.