Standard Lemma guide

melamine

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /ˈmɛl.ə.min/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M EH1 L AH0 M IY2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A strong aromatic heterocyclic base, triaminotriazine, used in combination with formaldehyde to manufacture melamine resins; any such resin, such as Formica

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a white crystalline organic base; used mainly in making melamine resins

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cyanuramide

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: base, alkali

History

Etymology

Ultimately from German Melamin.

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 三聚氰胺 (sānjùqíng'àn) — substance
  • Dutch: melamine — substance
  • Esperanto: melamino — substance
  • Finnish: melamiini — substance
  • Italian: melamina — substance
  • Italian: melammina — substance
  • Korean: 멜라민 (mellamin) — substance
  • Polish: melamina — substance
  • Polish: cyjanuramid — substance
  • Turkish: melamin — substance