Added 9 October 2026
melt
/mɛlt/ verb
In Latin: liquescō Wiktionary
verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about melt at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat.
I melted butter to make a cake.
-
To dissolve, disperse, vanish.
His troubles melted away.
- To soften, as by a warming or kindly influence; to relax; to render gentle or susceptible to mild influences; sometimes, in a bad sense, to take away the firmness of; to weaken.
noun
Origin
From Middle English melten, from a merger of Old English meltan (intransitive) and mieltan (transitive), both meaning “to melt, digest,” from Proto-West Germanic *meltan and *maltijan, from Proto-Germanic *meltaną and *maltijaną, both from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- (“melt”). Cognate with Icelandic melta (“to digest”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)