melt

Pronunciation

• IPA: /melt/^[1]

Etymology

It is a fusion of two Old English verbs:^[2] inherited from Old English meltan (“to become liquid”) (about 725, in Beowulf), a strong verb,^[2][3][4] and Anglian gemæltan, West Saxon gemyltan, to make liquid,^[2][3][4] cognate with Old Norse melta, to digest, malt, and Gothic gamalteins, dissolution.^[2][3][5] They go back to an Indo-European root meaning soft, seen also in Greek méldein, to soften by boiling, Latin mollis, soft, and Sanskrit mṛdú-, soft, tender,^[2][3][6] and are related to smelt, mild and malt.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To become liquid through heat: about 725.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English melt could also mean to dissolve, of salt or sugar, to corrode, of iron, and to putrefy, of flesh.^[3] The figurative sense, to grow soft or tender in feeling, is by about 1200.^[3] To pass imperceptibly into something else is by 1781.^[3] The old past participle survives as the adjective molten.^[7][3] The noun, molten metal, is from 1854,^[2][3][8] and a melt, a sandwich topped with melted cheese, is American English by 1956.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – meltan.^[2]
• c. 1200 – to grow tender (figurative).^[3]
• 1781 – to blend into something.^[3]
• 1854 – molten metal (noun).^[2][3]
• 1956 – a tuna melt (US).^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make or become liquid by heating.
2. To dissolve: sugar melts in water.
3. To disappear gradually, with away.
4. To soften in feeling: her heart melted.

Noun

1. A melted substance, or the act or quantity of melting.
2. (US) A sandwich topped with melted cheese.

Word family

• meltability
• meltable
• melter
• meltingly
• melty
• meltingness
• meltage

Related words

• smelt
• molten
• mild
• malt
• mollify

Usage notes

A separate melt, the spleen of an animal, is a variant of milt, from Old English milte.^[5]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press