melodious

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English melodious,^[2] borrowed from Middle French melodieux, earlier melodieus, recorded in 1280,^[3][4][5] from melodie and the suffix that gave -ous.^[3] The Middle English Dictionary and Dictionary.com derive it from Medieval Latin melōdiōsus instead,^[2][6] which the OED finds only in the 15th century, in a British source.^[3] The base melody goes back through Late Latin melōdia to Ancient Greek μελῳδία (melōidía, “singing, chanting, choral song”),^[3][7] from μελῳδός (melōidós, “musical, singing songs”), from μέλος (mélos, “song”) and the stem of ᾠδή (ōidḗ, “song”), the source of ode.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having a sweet or pleasant sound, of a voice: Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (about 1385, in a manuscript from before 1425), with vois melodious.^[3][2] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century,^[7] and Dictionary.com gives 1375–1425.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It has always described pleasant sound, and Chaucer has it only once.^[3][8] From about 1450, in Lydgate, it also described the performer or instrument that makes such sound.^[3] The Middle English Dictionary records looser uses, for meditation that is spiritually harmonious and for an April fit for singing.^[2] From about 1595 to 1613 it was used of what is receptive to melody,^[3] and since 1728, rarely, of what has or contains a melody, like melodic.^[3][9] Johnson (1755) glossed it "musical; harmonious".^[10] In Wigtownshire it was an intensive, as in a melodious lee.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1385 – of music or speech: sweet-sounding, tuneful.^[3][2]
• c. 1450 – of a musician or instrument: producing a pleasant melody.^[3]
• c. 1595 – receptive to melody (obsolete by 1613).^[3]
• 1728 – having or containing a melody.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Pleasant to the ear, especially through a sweet succession of sounds; tuneful: Her melodious voice filled the chapel.^[9][12][3]
2. Producing melody or meant to produce it: a melodious flute.^[12][3]
3. Having or containing a melody; melodic.^[9][12][3]

Word family

• melodiously
• melodiousness
• nonmelodious
• unmelodious

Related words

• melody
• melodic
• ode

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster