melt
/mɛlt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.96 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat.
Example Sentences
- "I melted butter to make a cake."
- "When the weather is warm, the snowman will disappear; he will melt."
- "His troubles melted away."
- "I gave him a couple of Advil and, after a few minutes, urged him back onto the track. Over the next few laps his pained expression slowly melted, although he still shuffled with a slight limp."
- "Thou would'st have […] melted down thy youth."
- "For pity melts the mind to love."
Etymology
From Middle English melten, from a merger of Old English meltan (intransitive) and mieltan (transitive), both meaning “to melt, digest,” from Proto-West Germanic *meltan and *maltijan, from Proto-Germanic *meltaną and *maltijaną, both from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- (“melt”). Cognate with Icelandic melta (“to digest”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Chemistry.
Inflected Forms
melts (present, singular)
melting (participle, present)
melted (past)
molt (past, rare)
melted (participle, past)
molt (participle, past)
molten (participle, past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
melted (first person, past)
molt (first person, past)
meltest (archaic, present)