# mel
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɛl/
* Rhymes: -ɛl
* Homophones: Mel, mell

### Etymology 1

Shortening of melody.

#### Noun

mel (plural mels)
* (psychoacoustics) A unit of pitch on a scale of pitches perceived by listeners to be equally spaced from one another.

#### Further reading

* Mel scale on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Etymology 2

From Latin mel (“honey”). Doublet of mell.

#### Noun

mel (uncountable)
* Honey, when used as an ingredient in cosmetic products.

### Anagrams

* EML, Elm, L.E.M., LEM, Lem, MLE, elm

## Albanian
### Etymology

Borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin milium.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

mel m (definite meli)
* common millet

## Breton
### Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *meli (“honey”) (compare Welsh mêl, Old Irish mil), from Proto-Indo-European *mélid, whence also Latin mel (“honey”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɛl/

### Noun

mel m
* honey

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈmɛl]
* Audio (Catalonia):(file)

### Etymology 1

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *melem m or f, from Latin mel n.

#### Noun

mel f (plural mels)
* honey

##### Derived terms

* aiguamel
* lluna de mel
* melat
* melós

##### Related terms

* mel·lífer
* mel·liflu

### Etymology 2

Inherited from Late Latin mēlum, variant of mālum (“apple”).

#### Noun

mel m (plural mels)
* (Balearic, anatomy) cheekbone
    Synonym: pòmul

### Etymology 3
#### Pronoun

mel
* (archaic) Contraction of me el. (in medieval Catalan, nowadays written as me'l)

### Further reading

* “mel” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “mel”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “mel” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “mel” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Classical Nahuatl
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈméːɬ]

### Noun

mēl inan
* second-person singular possessive singular of ēlli; (it is) your liver.

## Cornish
### Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *mel, from Proto-Celtic *meli (“honey”) (compare Welsh mêl, Old Irish mil), from Proto-Indo-European *mélid, whence also Latin mel (“honey”).

### Noun

mel m
* honey

#### Derived terms

* arth mel (“sun bear”)
* gwenen mel (“honeybees”)
* kriben vel (“honeycomb”)
* mel kriv (“raw honey”)
* melvis (“honeymoon”)

### Mutation
## Czech
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈmɛl]

### Verb

mel
* second-person singular imperative of mlít

## Dalmatian
### Etymology

From Latin mīlle.

### Numeral

mel
* thousand

## Danish
### Etymology

From Old Norse mjǫl, from Proto-Germanic *melwą, from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, rub, break up”). Related to male (“grind, crush”), mølle (“mill”) (via Latin), and to muld (“soil”).

### Pronunciation

* This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

### Noun

mel n (singular definite melet, not used in plural form)
* flour

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “mel” in Den Danske Ordbog
* “mel” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

## Dhuwal
### Noun

mel
* eye

## Galician
### Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese mel, from Vulgar Latin *melem m or f, from Latin mel n.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈmɛl]

### Noun

mel m (plural meles)
* honey

#### Derived terms

* augamel
* melado
* melaza
* meleiro
* melindre

### References

* Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “mel”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “mel”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “mel”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “mel”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “mel”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

## Gothic
### Romanization

mēl
* Romanization of 𐌼𐌴𐌻

## Istriot
### Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *melem m or f, from Latin mel n.

### Noun

mel
* honey

### References

* AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 1159: “il miele” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it

## Latin
### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *meli, from Proto-Indo-European *mel-it (“honey”), with the athematic suffix *-it that indicates comestible substances (compare Proto-Indo-European *h₂élbʰ-it (“barley”) or Proto-Indo-European *sép-it (“wheat”)). Cognate with Ancient Greek μέλι (méli), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌻𐌹𐌸 (miliþ), Old Armenian մեղր (mełr), Hittite [script needed] (milit), Luwian [script needed] (mallit-).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈmel/, [ˈmɛɫ̪]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈmel/, [ˈmɛl]

### Noun

mel n (genitive mellis); third declension
* honey
** 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.743–744:colligit errantēs et in arbore claudit inānī Liber et inventī praemia mellis habet.Liber gathers the wandering [bees] and confines them in a hollow tree, and he has the rewards of discovering honey. (See Liber – the Greek Dionysus or Roman Bacchus – and The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus.)
** 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Matthew 3:4:[...] esca autem eius erat lucustae et mel silvestre.And his food was locusts and wild honey.
** c. 189 BCE, Plautus, Truculentus 371, (ed. by Friedric Leo, Plauti Comoediae vol. 2, 1896, Berlin: Weidmann):Heia, hoc est melle dulci dulcius.Ah! This is sweeter than sweet honey.
* (figuratively) sweetness, pleasantness
** c. 35 CE – 100 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 3.1.5:Sed nos veremur ne parum hic liber mellis et absinthii multum habere videaturBut I fear that this book will have too little sweetness and too much wormwood.
* (figuratively, term of endearment) darling, sweet, honey
** c. 190 BCE, Plautus, Bacchides 18:cor meum, spes mea / mel meum, suavitudo, cibus, gaudiumMy heart, my hope, my honey, sweetness, food, delight.

#### Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, i-stem).

#### Synonyms

* (darling, honey): mellītus
* (sweetness): dulcēdō, dulcitās, dulcitūdō, dulcor, mellinia

#### Derived terms

* melculum
* melinus
* mella
* mellāceum
* mellārius
* melleus
* melliculus
* mellifer
* mellifex
* mellificus
* mellifluēns
* mellifluus
* melliger
* mellīgō
* mellinia
* mellītus
* mellō
* mellōsus

#### Related terms

* melina
* mellārium
* mellātiō
* melliculum
* mellificium
* mellificō
* mellilla
* mellītulus

#### Descendants

* Vulgar Latin: *melem m or f (see there for further descendants)

### References

* “mel”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “mel”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* mel in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. somebody's darling: mel ac deliciae alicuius (Fam. 8. 8. 1)
* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “mel”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 370

## Malay
### Etymology

From English mail.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmel/ [ˈmel]

### Noun

mél (Jawi spelling ميل, plural mel-mel, informal 1st possessive melku, 2nd possessive melmu, 3rd possessive melnya)
* (uncommon, mostly in compounds) mail
    Synonyms: pos, surat

#### Derived terms

* e-mel
* mel elektronik
* mel udara

### Further reading

* “mel” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* mele, melle
* mal, male, meyle (chiefly Northern)
* mæl, mæle, meal (Early Middle English)

### Etymology

From Old English mǣl, from Proto-West Germanic *māl, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɛːl/

### Noun

mel (plural meles)
* A time, occasion or event.
* The occasion when a meal is consumed; mealtime.
* A meal or feast.

#### Descendants

* English: meal
* Scots: meal
* Yola: meale, mele
* → Irish: béile

#### References

* “mēl, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Alternative forms

* mjøl (also Nynorsk)

### Etymology

From Danish mel, from Old Norse mjǫl.

### Noun

mel n (definite singular melet)
* flour, meal

#### Derived terms

* beinmel
* fiskemel
* hvetemel
* melaktig

### References

* “mel” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Verb

mel
* present of mala

## Old Galician-Portuguese
### Etymology

From Latin mel, from Vulgar Latin *melem m or f, from Latin mel n.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛl/

### Noun

mel m (plural mels)
* honey
** a. 1284, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 278 (facsimile):
    […] que ſon mais doceſ ca mel […]
       […] which are sweeter than honey […]

#### Descendants

* Galician: mel
* Portuguese: mel

## Old Welsh
### Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *mel, from Proto-Celtic *meli, from Proto-Indo-European *mélit.

### Noun

mel m
* honey

#### Descendants

* Middle Welsh: mel
** Welsh: mêl

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese mel, from Vulgar Latin *melem m or f, from Latin mel n.
Compare Galician mel m, Spanish miel f.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈmɛw/ [ˈmɛʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈmɛl/ [ˈmɛɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈmɛl/ [ˈmɛɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /ˈmɛ.li/
* Rhymes: (Portugal) -ɛl, (Brazil) -ɛw
* Homophone: mele (Portugal)
* Hyphenation: mel
* Audio (Portugal):(file)

### Noun

mel m (plural méis or meles)
* honey
** 2012, Luís Fernando Veríssimo, “A tia que caiu no Sena”, in Diálogos Impossíveis, Rio de Janeiro: Editora Objetiva, →ISBN, page 61:A conversa era sobre parentes, os parentes estranhos, interessantes ou, por qualquer razão, notáveis de cada um. Alguém já tinha contado que um parente comia favo de mel com abelha dentro.The conversation was about relatives, each one's weird, interesting or, for some reason, remarkable relatives. Someone had already said that a relative [of his] ate honeycomb with the bee inside.

#### Derived terms

* melado
* melar
* meloso
* papa-mel

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from English mel.

### Noun

mel m (plural meli)
* mel

#### Declension
## Romansch
### Alternative forms

* mèl (Sursilvan)
* meal (Sutsilvan)
* mêl (Surmiran)

### Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *melem m, from Latin mel n.

### Noun

mel m (plural mels)
* (Rumantsch Grischun) honey
* (Rumantsch Grischun) jam

#### Synonyms

* (honey): mel d'avieuls

### References

* AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 1159: “il miele” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it

## Volapük
### Etymology

Borrowed from French mer (“sea”), with the 'r' turned into 'l'.

### Noun

mel (nominative plural mels)
* sea

#### Declension

$^1$ status as a case is disputed $^2$ in later, non-classical Volapük only