# mobile

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈməʊ.baɪl/ · frequency rank #1,488

## Definitions
1. Capable of being moved, especially on wheels.
2. Pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones.
3. Characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity; moving or flowing with great freedom.
4. Easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction; excitable; changeable; fickle.
5. Changing in appearance and expression under the influence of the mind.
6. Capable of being moved, aroused, or excited; capable of spontaneous movement.

## Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mōbilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from moveō (“move”). The video-gaming sense was coined by Richard Bartle to describe NPCs or creatures capable of moving "under their own power" in the 1978 video game Multi-User Dungeon. Bartle retracted an earlier claim of his that it was from the kinetic sculpture sense of mobile (for the "unpredictable but limited" motion of the hanging ornaments).

## Easily confused with
- **mole** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mobile-vs-mole)
- **movie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mobile-vs-movie)
- **motive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mobile-vs-motive)
- **module** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mobile-vs-module)
- **morale** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mobile-vs-morale)
- **moline** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mobile-vs-moline)
- **mobilize** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mobile-vs-mobilize)
- **mobilise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mobile-vs-mobilise)
- **mile** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mile-vs-mobile)
- **Mobil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mobil-vs-mobile)

## Common misspellings (8)
`mboile`, `mmobile`, `mobbile`, `mobiel`, `mobille`, `moblie`, `moible`, `ombile`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/mobile