mellifluous

English

WOTD – 28 July 2006

Etymology

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

Adjective

mellifluous (comparative more mellifluous, superlative most mellifluous)

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...
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

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
French: mélodieux (fr), mielleux (fr) m, melliflue (fr) m or f
German: honigsüss (de), lieblich (de), wohlklingend (de)
Hebrew: ערב‎ (he) m (arév)

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, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

German: ^{(please verify)} lieblich (de)

Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} herrikbar (ku)