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mellifluous

- 4 dictionary results

mel⋅lif⋅lu⋅ous

[muh-lif-loo-uhs]
–adjective
1. sweetly or smoothly flowing; sweet-sounding: a mellifluous voice; mellifluous tones.
2. flowing with honey; sweetened with or as if with honey.

Origin:
1375–1425; late ME < LL mellifluus, equiv. to L melli- (s. of mel) honey + -flu(ere) to flow + -us adj. suffix (see -ous )


mel⋅lif⋅lu⋅ous⋅ly, adverb
mel⋅lif⋅lu⋅ous⋅ness, noun


1. melodious, musical, dulcet, harmonious.
mel·lif·lu·ous   (mə-lĭf'lōō-əs)   
adj.  
  1. Flowing with sweetness or honey.
  2. Smooth and sweet: "polite and cordial, with a mellifluous, well-educated voice" (H.W. Crocker III).

[Middle English, from Late Latin mellifluus : Latin mel, mell-, honey; see melit- in Indo-European roots + Latin -fluus, flowing; see bhleu- in Indo-European roots.]
mel·lif'lu·ous·ly adv., mel·lif'lu·ous·ness n.

Mellifluous

Mel*lif"lu*ous\, a. [L. mellifluus; mel, mellis, honey (akin to Gr. ?, Goth. milip) + fluere to flow. See Mildew, Fluent, and cf. Marmalade.] Flowing as with honey; smooth; flowing sweetly or smoothly; as, a mellifluous voice. -- Mel*lif"lu*ous*ly, adv.

mellifluous 
1432, from L.L. mellifluus "flowing with (or as if with) honey," from L. mel (gen. mellis) "honey" + -fluus "flowing," from fluere "to flow" (see fluent).
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