molde

See also: Molde

English

Noun

molde (usually uncountable, plural moldes)

1. Obsolete spelling of mold.
   • 1567, Ovid, “The First Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, lines 724-5:

     And could not finde hir any where, assuredly he thought
     She did not live above the molde, ne drewe the vitall breath:

Anagrams

• LModE, model

Basque

Noun

molde

1. manner

Middle English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔld(ə)/, /ˈmoːld(ə)/

Etymology 1

From Old English molde, from Proto-West Germanic *moldu, from Proto-Germanic *muldō.

Alternative forms

• mold, moold, moolde, moulde, mowlde, mulde

Noun

molde (uncountable)

2. dirt (loose soil):
   1. ground (surface of the Earth)
   2. (figuratively) grave, deathbed
3. The world, the planet (i.e., Earth)
4. clay (mineral substance)
5. (heraldry, rare) escutcheon

Derived terms

• moldebred
• moldewarpe

Descendants

• English: mold, mould, mool
• Scots: muild, moud

References

• “mōld(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Old English molda, molde, from Proto-West Germanic *moldō, from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥Hdʰṓ; exactly parallel to Sanskrit मूर्धन् (mūrdhan).

Alternative forms

• mold, moold, moolde, mowlde

Noun

molde (plural moldes)

2. The top or crown of the head.
3. (mistakenly) The uvula (as remedies applied to the crown supposedly affected it)
4. (anatomy, rare) The divide between the cranial bones.

Descendants

• English: mold, mould

References

• “mōld(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

From Old French modle, mole, from Latin modulus.

Alternative forms

• mold, moold, moolde, moulde, mulde

Noun

molde (plural moldes)

2. mold (cast, matrix)
3. (figurative, rare) character, type

Derived terms

• molden
• moldere
• moldyng

Descendants

• English: mold, mould
• Scots: muild

References

• “mōld(e, n.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 4

Noun

molde

1. alternative form of molle (“mole”)

Etymology 5

Noun

molde

1. alternative form of mowlde

Etymology 6

Verb

molde

1. alternative form of molden

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *muldō, from *mel- (“to grind”). Cognate with Old High German molta (dialectal German Molt), Old Norse mold (Swedish mull), Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰 (mulda).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmol.de/, [ˈmoɫ.de]

Noun

molde f

1. earth, soil
2. the earth, world
   • 11th century, Against a dwarf:

     Þænne eft þæt galdor, þæt hēr æfter cweð, man sċeal singan, ǣrest on þæt wynstre ēare, þænne on þæt swīðre ēare, þænne hūfan þæs mannes moldan.

     Then afterwards, the spell, that will be spoken hereafter, one should sing at first in the left ear, then in the right ear, then to the top of man's earth.

Declension

Weak n-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	molde	moldan
accusative	moldan	moldan
genitive	moldan	moldena
dative	moldan	moldum

Derived terms

• græsmolde

Descendants

• Middle English: molde
  • English: mold, mould, mool
  • Scots: muild, moud

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔw.d͡ʒi/ [ˈmɔʊ̯.d͡ʒi]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔw.d͡ʒi/ [ˈmɔʊ̯.d͡ʒi]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔw.de/ [ˈmɔʊ̯.de]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔl.dɨ/ [ˈmɔɫ.dɨ]

• Hyphenation: mol‧de

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Spanish molde.

Noun

molde m (plural moldes)

1. mould, cast
2. (by extension) model, example

   A escola foi o molde para toda a sua vida.

   School was a model for his whole life.

3. (typography) printing mould

Etymology 2

Verb

molde

1. inflection of moldar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “molde”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “molde”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmolde/ [ˈmol̪.d̪e]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -olde
• Syllabification: mol‧de

Etymology 1

From Old Catalan motle, metathesized from Latin modulus.

Noun

molde m (plural moldes)

1. mold, cast
2. pan, tin (for baking)

Derived terms

• amoldar
• escribano de molde
• letra de molde
• moldar
• moldear
• moldura
• pan de molde

Related terms

• módulo

Etymology 2

Verb

molde

1. inflection of moldar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “molde”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025