Word: Mel who?

Mel  lif …

Melli … foo … lus?

Nope, that’s not it.

FLU.

M-E-L  L-I   F-L-U   U-S

Mellifluous

Got it!

Now that I’ve untwisted my tongue, here it is: mel·li·flu·us.

Doesn’t that have a sweet ring to it? The fact is, this dulcet adjective is defined as “flowing with sweetness or honey.”

It can also be used to describe a particularly melodious sound (I awoke to the mellifluous song of a meadowlark at dawn.) Think melodious, mellisonant, ariose, euphonious … ahhhhh.

I dare you to use it in casual conversation.

I double dare you to master its other fabulous forms:

mellifluence (noun)

mellifluousness (noun)

mellifluously (adverb)

mellifluently (adverb) 

Sweeeet! 

Western meadowlark singing mellifluously. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Alan Vernon.

  1. Jan Culton says:

    “honey” in Spanish is “miel”…that should help me remember what this word means….common Latin roots no doubt. Good word!

  2. Karlyne Landrum says:

    When my eldest daughter was born, we named her Melyssa Marie. After turning it over his tongue a few times, our good friend Stan said, “Ah, that is a mellifluous name…” I am guessing that this is the first time I’ve spelled it out and written it down, but I have said it lots of times since. What a mellifluous life it is!

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