Standard Lemma guide

mellifluous

adj · 3 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: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /məˈlɪflu.əs/
  • US: /mɛˈlɪflu.əs/

1

adj

Meaning 1

Flowing like honey.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Sweet, smooth and musical; pleasant to hear (generally used of a person's voice, tone or writing style).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: birdsweet, dulcet, euphonious, mellifluent

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

pleasing to the ear

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the dulcet tones of the cello

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dulcet, honeyed, mellisonant, sweet

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English mellifluous, mellyfluous, from Latin mellifluus (“flowing like honey”) + -ous, from mel (“honey”) + fluō (“flow”). Compare superfluous and fluid, from same root, and with dulcet (“sweet speech”), alternative Latinate term with a similar meaning.

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: mel·liflu — flowing like honey
  • Dutch: stroperig — flowing like honey
  • Finnish: hunajamainen — flowing like honey
  • Italian: mellifluo — flowing like honey
  • Polish: płynny jak miód — flowing like honey
  • Portuguese: melífluo — flowing like honey
  • Romanian: melifluu — flowing like honey
  • Spanish: melifluo — flowing like honey
  • Bulgarian: сладкодумен (sladkodumen) — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Catalan: mel·liflu — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Dutch: honingzoet — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Dutch: zoetgevooisd — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Dutch: welluidend — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Finnish: hunajainen — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • French: mélodieux — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • French: mielleux — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • French: melliflue — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • German: honigsüß — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • German: lieblich — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • German: wohlklingend — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Hebrew: ערב (arév) — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Macedonian: милозвучен (milozvučen) — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Māori: rōreka — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Māori: wainene — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Polish: słodki — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Polish: melodyjny — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Portuguese: melífluo — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Romanian: melifluu — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Russian: медоточи́вый (medotočívyj) — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Russian: сладкозву́чный (sladkozvúčnyj) — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Spanish: melifluo — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)
  • Swedish: honungslen — sweet and smooth (tone, voice...)