mellow
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "mellow", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "mellow" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "mellow" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
mellow is anEnglishadj. It means: Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp. Pronounced /ˈmɛləʊ/. Often confused with meow and melo.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | mellow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adj |
| IPA | /ˈmɛləʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #19,137 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for mellow is 6 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmɛləʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #19,137 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for mellow, with forms such as "emllow", "melloww", and "mellwo". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "meow", "melo", "melon", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: The adjective is derived from Late Middle English melowe, melwe (“ripe, mellow; juicy; sweet”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain, possibly: * from an attributive use of melow, melowe, melewe, mele (“meal from ground grain or legumes; flour; ker… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is mellow, spelled M-E-L-L-O-W, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.
- 2Matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
- 3Soft and easily penetrated or worked; not hard or rigid; loamy.
- 4Mature; of crops: ready to be harvested; ripe.
- 5Fruitful and warm.
- 6Not coarse, brash, harsh, or rough; delicate, rich, soft, subdued.
- 7Senses relating to a person or their qualities.
- 8Senses relating to a person or their qualities.
- 9Senses relating to a person or their qualities.
- 10Senses relating to a person or their qualities.
- 11Pleasing in some way; excellent, fantastic, great.
Etymology
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English melowe, melwe (“ripe, mellow; juicy; sweet”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain, possibly: * from an attributive use of melow, melowe, melewe, mele (“meal from ground grain or legumes; flour; kernel of barley or lentils”) [and other forms], from Old English melo, melu (“meal (edible part of a grain or pulse); flour”), from Proto-Germanic *melwą (“ground corn; meal; flour”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush; to grind”); or * a variant of Middle English merow, merowe, meruw (“soft, tender; of a person: frail; of love: unstable, variable”) [and other forms], from Old English meru, mearu (“soft, tender; delicate, frail; callow”) [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *marwaz (“soft, mellow; brittle, delicate”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer(w)- (“to rub; to pack”). The noun and verb are both derived from the adjective. The etymology of noun sense 3 (“close friend; lover”) is unknown, but may also be derived from the adjective. Cognates * Dutch murw (“tender”) * German mürbe (“soft, tender”) * German Low German möör (“tender”) * Old Norse mör (“tender; aching”) (Icelandic meyr (“tender”)) * Saterland Frisian muur (“tender”) * West Frisian murf (“tender”)
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emllow,melloww,mellwo,melolw,melow,mlelow,mmellow
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for mellow
Misspelling Variants of "mellow"
Frequency rank: #19,137 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "mellow"?
What does "mellow" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "mellow"?
How do you pronounce "mellow"?
What is the origin of the word "mellow"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index: