molten

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English molten,^[2] inherited from Old English molten, the old strong past participle of meltan (“to melt, dissolve; to digest”),^[3][4][5][6] the source of melt.^[7][8] The verb goes back to Proto-Germanic *meltaną (“to dissolve”),^[9] with cognates in Icelandic moltinn (“soft, half-dissolved”)^[9][10] and, outside Germanic, Ancient Greek μέλδομαι (méldomai, “to melt”).^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of metal: melted and cast in a mould, or of an image, made in this way: about 1300, in the South English Legendary life of Saint Michael.^[12] Barnhart finds moltan, dissolved by water, about 1150, and molten, made liquid by heat, about 1300.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, cast in metal, is now obsolete or rare;^[12][8][4] the sense "dissolved in a liquid", also used of things softened by decay, is found only in Middle English.^[12][4] The main modern sense, liquefied by heat, chiefly of metal, glass and rock, is recorded before 1400,^[12] and the Shorter Oxford notes that molten suggests a higher heat than melted.^[4] Johnson (1755) still treated it as the past participle of melt, quoting the Book of Job: "Brass is molten out of the stone."^[14] Figurative use, for something fiery, glowing or passionate, began in 1590 with Spenser.^[12][4] Since 1991 molten has also named a cake, especially a chocolate one, with a soft, liquid centre.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – of metal, cast; of an image, made of cast metal.^[12][5]
• before 1400 – dissolved in a liquid (only in Middle English).^[12][4]
• before 1400 – liquefied by heat.^[12]
• 1590 – figurative use.^[12]
• 1991 – of a cake with a soft, liquid centre.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made liquid by heat; melted: molten glass.^[15][8][12]
2. Glowing or fiery, as if melted; passionate.^[12][4]
3. Of a cake, especially a chocolate one: having a soft, liquid centre.^[12]
4. (obsolete) Made by casting melted metal in a mould.^[8][4]

Word family

• moltenly
• unmolten

Related words

• melt
• smelt
• malt

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins