mellifluous

English

WOTD – 28 July 2006

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin mellifluus (“flowing like honey”), from mel (“honey”) + fluō (“flow”). Compare superfluous and fluid, from same root, and with dulcet (“sweet speech”), alternative Latinate term with a similar meaning.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /məˈlɪflu.əs/, IPA^(key): /mɛˈlɪflu.əs/

Adjective

mellifluous (comparative more mellifluous, superlative most mellifluous)

1. Flowing like honey.
   • 1671: Paradise Regained by John Milton

     Though in heaven the trees / Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines / Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn / We brush mellifluous dews, and find the ground / Cover'd with pearly grain...

2. Sweet, smooth and musical; pleasant to hear (generally used of a person's voice, tone or writing style).
   • 1671: Paradise Regained by John Milton

     ...Socrates...Wisest of men; from whose mouth issued forth / Mellifluous streams that water'd all the schools / Of Academicks old and new...

   • 1853: Sir Egerton Brydges, "Life of Milton"

     No verses can be more mellifluous than Petrarch's: something of this will perhaps be attributed to the softness of the Italian language; but the English tongue is also capable of it, however obstinately Johnson may have pronounced otherwise.

   • 2016: "Richard Ashcroft: These People review – nothing brutal from a mellifluous foghorn" by Rachel Aroesti

     Certainly, he returns explicitly to the sound of Urban Hymns on his fourth solo album: neat, sad strings, unhurried percussion and his mellifluous foghorn of a voice.

Synonyms

• (Sweet and smooth style): birdsweet, dulcet, euphonious, sweet-flowing

Derived terms

• mellifluousness

Related terms

• melliloquent
• superfluous

Translations

flowing like honey

• Catalan: mel·liflu (ca) m
• Dutch: stroperig (nl)
• Finnish: hunajamainen
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: mellifluo (it)
• Portuguese: melífluo (pt) m
• Romanian: melifluu m
• Spanish: melifluo (es)

sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)

• Catalan: mel·liflu (ca) m
• Dutch: honingzoet (nl)
• Finnish: hunajainen (fi)
• French: mélodieux (fr), mielleux (fr) m, melliflue (fr) m or f
• German: honigsüss (de), lieblich (de), wohlklingend (de)
• Hebrew: ערב (he) m (arév)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: rōreka (of a voice), wainene
• Portuguese: melífluo (pt) m
• Romanian: melifluu m
• Russian: медоточи́вый (ru) (medotočívyj), сладкозву́чный (ru) (sladkozvúčnyj)
• Spanish: melifluo (es)
• Swedish: honungslen (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} lieblich (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kurdish: