mel

See also: Mel, mél, mèl, mêl, měl, -mel-, mel', Mel., мел, and мель

English

Etymology

Shortening of melody.

Noun

mel (plural mels)

1. (psychoacoustics) A common scale of pitches that are perceived by listeners to be equally spaced from one another, or one unit on that scale.

Anagrams

• EML, L.E.M., LEM, Lem, MLE, elm

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Albanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin milium.

Noun

mel m (definite meli)

1. millet

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Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *meli (“honey”) (compare Welsh mêl, Old Irish mil), from Proto-Indo-European *mélid, whence also Latin mel (“honey”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛl/

Noun

mel m

1. honey

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Catalan

Etymology

From , from Latin mel (“honey”), from Proto-Indo-European *mélid. Compare French miel, Italian miele, Portuguese mel, Romanian miere, Spanish miel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian) [ˈmɛl]

Noun

mel f (plural mels)

1. honey

Derived terms

• lluna de mel

Further reading

• “mel” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “mel”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “mel” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “mel” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Cornish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *meli (“honey”) (compare Welsh mêl, Old Irish mil), from Proto-Indo-European *mélid, whence also Latin mel (“honey”).

Noun

mel m

1. honey

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmɛl]

Verb

1. second-person singular imperative of mlít

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Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin mīlle.

Numeral

mel

1. thousand

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Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse mjǫl, from Proto-Germanic *melwą, from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, rub, break up”).

Noun

mel n (singular definite melet, not used in plural form)

1. flour

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Dhuwal

Noun

mel

1. eye

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Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese mel, from Latin mel (“honey”).

Noun

mel m (plural meles)

1. honey

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Gothic

Romanization

mēl

1. Romanization of 𐌼𐌴𐌻

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Istriot

Etymology

From Latin mel (“honey”).

Noun

mel

1. honey

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *mélid. Cognates include Ancient Greek μέλι (méli), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌻𐌹𐌸 (miliþ), and Old Armenian մեղր (mełr).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /mel/, [mɛɫ̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /mel/, [mɛl]

Noun

mel n (genitive mellis); third declension

1. honey
   • c. 189 BCE, Plautus, Truculentus 2.4.20:

     hoc est melle dulci dulcius

     This is honey sweeter than sweet honey.

     (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this quotation?)
2. (figuratively) sweetness, pleasantness
   • c. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 3.1.5:

     Sed nos veremur ne parum hic liber mellis et absinthii multum habere videatur

     But I fear that this book will have too little sweetness and too much wormwood.

3. (figuratively, term of endearment) darling, sweet, honey
   • c. 190 BCE, Plautus, Bacchides 18:

     cor meum spes mea / mel meum suavitudo cibus gaudium

     My heart, my hope, my honey, sweetness, food delight.

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mel	mella
Genitive	mellis	mellium mellum
Dative	mellī	mellibus
Accusative	mel	mella
Ablative	melle	mellibus
Vocative	mel	mella

• Note that the ablative singular melle has the alternative form melli.

Synonyms

• (darling, honey): mellītus
• (sweetness): dulcēdō, dulcitās, dulcitūdō, dulcor, mellinia

Derived terms

Derived terms

• melculum
• melinus
• mella
• mellāceum
• mellārius

• melleus
• melliculus
• mellifer
• mellifex
• mellificus

• mellifluēns
• mellifluus
• melliger
• mellīgō

• mellinia
• mellītus
• mellō
• mellōsus

Related terms

• melina
• melliculum
• mellificium
• mellificō
• mellilla
• mellārium
• mellātiō
• mellītulus

 

Descendants

• Aragonese: miel
• Aromanian: njari
• Asturian: miel
• Breton: mel
• Catalan: mel
• Dalmatian: mil
• French: miel
• Friulian: mîl
• Galician: mel
• Istriot: mel
• Istro-Romanian: mľåre
• Italian: miele

• Ladin: mil
• Megleno-Romanian: m'ari
• Norman: myi (Jersey)
• Occitan: mèl
• Portuguese: mel
• Romanian: miere
• Romansch: mel
• Samoan: meli
• Sardinian: mele
• Sicilian: meli
• Spanish: miel
• Venetian: miel

References

• “mel”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mel”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mel in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • somebody's darling: mel ac deliciae alicuius (Fam. 8. 8. 1)
    

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• melle

Etymology

From Old English mǣl, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛːl/

Noun

mel (plural mels)

1. A time, occasion or event.
2. The occasion when a meal is consumed; mealtime.
3. A meal or feast.

Descendants

• English: meal

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Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• mjøl (also Nynorsk)

Etymology

From Old Norse mjǫl

Noun

mel n (definite singular melet)

1. flour, meal

Derived terms

• beinmel
• fiskemel
• hvetemel
• melaktig

References

• “mel” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

mel

1. present of mala

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Old Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin mel (“honey”), from Proto-Indo-European *mélid (“honey”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛl/

Noun

mel m

1. honey
   • 13th century CE, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 278 (facsimile):

     […] que ſon mais doceſ ca mel […]

     […] which are sweeter than honey […]

Descendants

• Galician: mel
• Portuguese: mel

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Portuguese

mel

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese mel (“honey”), from Latin mel (“honey”), from Proto-Indo-European *mélid (“honey”). Compare Catalan mel, French miel, Italian miele, Romanian miere, Spanish miel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛw/
• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɫ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mel
• Rhymes: -ɛw

Noun

1. honey

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:mel.

Derived terms

• melado
• melar

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Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Sursilvan) mèl
• (Sutsilvan) meal
• (Surmiran) mêl

Etymology

From Latin mel (“honey”).

Noun

mel m (plural mels)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun) honey
2. (Rumantsch Grischun) jam

Synonyms

• (honey): mel d'avieuls

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Volapük

Etymology

Borrowed from French mer (“sea”), with the 'r' turned into 'l'.

Noun

mel (nominative plural mels)

1. sea

Declension

declension of mel

	singular	plural
nominative	mel	mels
genitive	mela	melas
dative	mele	meles
accusative	meli	melis
vocative 1	o mel!	o mels!
predicative 2	melu	melus

• ¹ status as a case is disputed
• ² in later, non-classical Volapük only

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