# mold
## English
### Alternative forms

* mould (Commonwealth)

### Pronunciation

* enPR: mŏld, mōld
* (UK) IPA: /məʊld/, /mɔʊld/
* (US) IPA: /moʊld/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -əʊld

### Etymology 1

From Middle English molde (“mold, cast”), from Old French modle, mole, from Latin modulus, from Latin modus. Doublet of module, modulus, and model.

#### Noun

mold (countable and uncountable, plural molds) (American spelling)
* A hollow form or matrix for shaping a fluid or plastic substance.
* A frame or model around or on which something is formed or shaped.
* Something that is made in or shaped on a mold.
* The shape or pattern of a mold.
* General shape or form.
    the oval mold of her face
** 1711, Alexander Pope, "The Temple of Fame", in The Works of Alexander Pope: New Ed. Including Several Hundred Unpublished Letters, and Other New Materials, Collected in Part by John Wilson Croker. With Introd. and Notes by Whitwell Elwin, Volume 1, J.Murray, p.206
    Crowned with an architrave of antique mould.
** 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. […] Indeed, all his features were in large mold, like the man himself, as though he had come from a day when skin garments made the proper garb of men.
* Distinctive character or type.
    a leader in the mold of her predecessors
* A fixed or restrictive pattern or form.
    His method of scientific investigation broke the mold and led to a new discovery.
* (architecture) A group of moldings.
    the arch mold of a porch or doorway;  the pier mold of a Gothic pier, meaning the whole profile, section, or combination of parts
* (anatomy) A fontanelle.

##### Derived terms

* (archaeology): post mold
* barquette mold
* bread mold
* break the mold
* cake mold
* mold box
* mold-breaking
* mold fossil
* mold loft
* taters in the mould

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Verb

mold (third-person singular simple present molds, present participle molding, simple past and past participle molded) (American spelling)
* (transitive) To shape in or on a mold; to form into a particular shape; to give shape to.
** 1910, Walter A. Wells, “The hygienic, economic and sociologic aspect of the throat”, in The Laryngoscope‎, volume 20, number 1, →DOI, pages 47–48:Not only in formal discourse, but in the ordinary walks of life, a well-modulated, expressive voice is a most valuable asset, whether one’s object be to interest, persuade or convince, to give a command or entreat a favor. The moulding of the voice into finished articulate speech is a mechanism in which the entire oral cavity, including palate, teeth, tongue and lips, take an important part. As a result of either structural defect of these organs, or, as is more often the case, as a consequence of their imperfect innervation, various logopathies may occur, which profoundly affect the social status of the unfortunate individual and seriously embarrass his way to a successful career. Lisping, stuttering, stammering, lallation, nunnation and sigmatism, paragammacism and paralambdacism are but few of the locutory evils encountered, much too frequently in adolescents and adults. The fact that they are mostly amenable to treatment and may often be completely corrected, with proper attention and training, is something that needs to be more thoroughly impressed upon our educational bodies and sociologic reformers.
** 1978, Job 10:8-9, Old Testament, New International Version:
    Your hands shaped me and made me … Remember that you molded me like clay.
* (transitive) To guide or determine the growth or development of; influence
** 1963. Haile Selassie (translated)
    It is you who must mold the minds of your students that they may be wise, farsighted, intelligent, profound in their thinking, devoted to their country and government and fruitful in their work. It is you who must sense as the example.
* (transitive) To fit closely by following the contours of.
* (transitive) To make a mold of or from (molten metal, for example) before casting.
* (transitive) To ornament with moldings.
* (intransitive) To be shaped in or as if in a mold.
    These shoes gradually molded to my feet.

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English mowlde, noun use and alteration of mowled, past participle of mowlen, moulen (“to grow moldy”), from Old Norse mygla (compare dialectal Danish mugle), from Proto-Germanic *muglōną, diminutive and denominative of *mukiz 'soft substance' (compare Old Norse myki, mykr (“cow dung”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mewk- (“slick, soft”). More at muck and meek.

#### Noun

mold (countable and uncountable, plural molds) (American spelling)
* A natural substance in the form of a woolly or furry growth of tiny fungi that appears when organic material lies for a long time exposed to (usually warm and moist) air.
* A fungus that creates such colored, furry growths.

##### Derived terms

* black bread mold
* dog vomit slime mold
* moldy, mouldy
* moulder
* scrambled egg slime mold
* slime mold
* snow mold
* water mold

##### See also

* mildew

#### Verb

mold (third-person singular simple present molds, present participle molding, simple past and past participle molded) (American spelling)
* (transitive) To cause to become moldy; to cause mold to grow upon.
* (intransitive) To become moldy; to be covered or filled, in whole or in part, with a mold.

##### Translations
### Etymology 3

From Middle English molde, from Old English molde, from Proto-Germanic *muldō (“dirt, soil”) (compare Old Frisian molde, Middle Dutch moude, Dutch moude, obsolete German Molte, Norwegian Bokmål mold, and Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰 (mulda)), from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥h₂-téh₂ (compare Ashkun mič, Kamkata-viri muři, mřey, mřëi, Prasuni mire, Waigali muk, all meaning "clay").

#### Noun

mold (countable and uncountable, plural molds)
* Loose friable soil, rich in humus and fit for planting.
* (UK, dialectal, chiefly plural) Earth, ground.

##### Alternative forms

* mool
* mould

##### Derived terms

* leaf mold
* moldboard
* vegetable mold

##### Translations
#### Verb

mold (third-person singular simple present molds, present participle molding, simple past and past participle molded) (American spelling)
* To cover with mold or soil.

### Etymology 4

From Middle English molde (“top of the head”), from Old English molda, molde, from Proto-West Germanic *moldō, from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥Hdʰṓ; exactly parallel to Sanskrit मूर्धन् (mūrdhán).

#### Noun

mold (uncountable)
* (dialectal or obsolete) The top or crown of the head.
** 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VII.] The Proëme.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 152:What a while continueth the mould and crowne of our heads to beate and pant, before our braine is well ſetled […]
** 1612, Sir George Paule, The life of John Whitgift […] ‎, London: Ri. Chiswell, published 1699, page 118:By reaſon whereof the flaſhing of the Water, and ſharpness of the Air, did ſo pierce the Archbiſhop (being above Threeſcore and thirteen years of Age) that he complained the ſame night of a great cold, which he had then taken in the mould of his Head.
** 1687, Jean de Thévenot, “Book I, Chapter II”, in Archibald Lovell, transl., Travels into the Levant‎, volume Part II, London, page 6:[…] its eyes as large as a mans; and betwixt the two eyes, it hath a hole like the mould in the head of a man, by which it ſucks in and ſpouts out the Water […]

##### Alternative forms

* mould

### References

* ↑ James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Mould, sb.$^2$”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VI, Part, London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 702, column 3.

### Anagrams

* LMDO

## Faroese
### Etymology

From Old Norse mold, from Proto-Germanic *muldō ‘dirt, soil’, from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥h₂-téh₂, from *melh₂- (“to grind, crush”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [mɔlt]

### Noun

mold f (genitive singular moldar, uncountable)
* (agriculture) earth, humus soil, humus layer
** tá myndaði Harrin Guð mannin av mold jarðar
    And the Lord God formed man of the soil of the ground (Genesis 2,7)

#### Declension
## Icelandic
### Etymology

From Old Norse mold, from Proto-Germanic *muldō (“dirt, soil”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɔlt/
* Rhymes: -ɔlt

### Noun

mold f (genitive singular moldar, nominative plural moldir)
* dirt, mould, humus, ground, earth

#### Declension

$^1$Rare. $^2$Literary or dated.

### References

* Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989) Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, →ISBN (Available at Málið.is under the “Eldri orðabækur” tab.)
* Kristín Bjarnadóttir, editor (2002–2025), “mold”, in Beygingarlýsing íslensks nútímamáls [The Database of Modern Icelandic Inflection] (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
* Mörður Árnason (2019) Íslensk orðabók, 5th edition, Reykjavík: Forlagið
* “mold” in the Dictionary of Modern Icelandic (in Icelandic) and ISLEX (in the Nordic languages)
* “mold”, in Ritmálssafn Orðabókar Háskólans [The Written Collection of the Lexicological Institute] (in Icelandic), Reykjavík: The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, (Can we date this quote?)

## Middle English
### Etymology 1
#### Noun

mold
* Alternative form of molde (“earth”)

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

mold
* Alternative form of molde (“top of the head”)

### Etymology 3
#### Noun

mold
* Alternative form of molde (“mold”)

### Etymology 4
#### Noun

mold
* Alternative form of molle (“mole”)

### Etymology 5
#### Verb

mold
* Alternative form of molden

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From Old Norse mold (“earth, dirt, soil”), from Proto-Germanic *muldō (“mould, soil, dirt”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, crush”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɔl/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔl
* Hyphenation: mold
* Homophone: moll

### Noun

mold f or m (definite singular molda or molden, indefinite plural molder, definite plural moldene)
* humus, earth, soil, topsoil
** 1973, Sigbjørn Hølmebakk, Tolv trøndere:Han kastet seg ned i åkeren og grov en grop i molda.He fell down in the field and dug a hole in the soil

#### Alternative forms

* muld

### References

* “mold” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
* “mold” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From Old Norse mold, from Proto-Germanic *muldō.

### Pronunciation

IPA: /mɔlː/

### Noun

mold f (definite singular molda, uncountable)
* humus, earth, soil, topsoil

### References

* “mold” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old Norse
### Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *muldō (“dirt, soil”). Cognate with Old English molde (English mold), Old High German molta, Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰 (mulda).

### Pronunciation

* (12th century Icelandic) IPA: /mõld/

### Noun

mold f (genitive moldar, plural moldir)
* earth, dirt, soil
** Vǫluspá, verse 2
    […] níu man ek heima, / níu íviðjur, mjǫtvið mæran, / fyr mold neðan. […] nine worlds I remember, / nine troll-women a renowned tree of measure, / 'fore the earth below.

#### Descendants

* Faroese: mold
* Icelandic: mold
* Norwegian Nynorsk: mold
** → Norwegian Bokmål: mold
* Old Swedish: muld
** Swedish: mull
* Old Danish: muld
** Danish: muld
*** Norwegian Bokmål: muld m or f

### Further reading

* Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “mold”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive