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PlainSpell

melt

/mɛlt/verb, noun

melt is spelled M-E-L-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, melt means “To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in melt?

Letters4: M-E-L-T
Syllables1
In writing9.1 times per million words; the 7,553rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is melt?

Melt appears 9.1 times per million words in written English, the 7,553rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce melt?

  • /mɛlt/

Melt has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-melt.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of melt

  • melts present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • melting participle, present
  • melted past, participle, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • molt past, rare, participle, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • molten participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does melt mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat.

    I melted butter to make a cake.

  2. 2

    To dissolve, disperse, vanish.

    His troubles melted away.

  3. 3

    To soften, as by a warming or kindly influence; to relax; to render gentle or susceptible to mild influences; sometimes, in a bad sense, to take away the firmness of; to weaken.

  4. 4

    To be discouraged.

  5. 5

    To be emotionally softened or touched.

    She melted when she saw the romantic message in the Valentine's Day card.

  6. 6

    colloquialTo be very hot and sweat profusely.

    I need shade! I'm melting!

noun

  1. 1

    Molten material, the product of melting.

  2. 2

    The transition of matter from a solid state to a liquid state.

  3. 3

    The springtime snow runoff in mountain regions.

  4. 4

    A melt sandwich.

  5. 5

    Rock showing evidence of having been remelted after it originally solidified.

    Numerous samples of breccia and impact melts were recovered by drilling into the floor of the crater.

  6. 6

    A wax-based substance for use in an oil burner as an alternative to mixing oils and water.

  7. 7

    UKderogatoryslangA soft, soppy, or overly emotional person.

  8. 8

    UKderogatoryslangA centre-left or liberal person, when in opposition to a leftist; (especially) a critic of Jeremy Corbyn within the Labour Party.

noun

as MELT
  1. 1

    Acronym of metrics, events, logs, and traces.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Melt in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfondre, se dissoudre (intransitive: (of a solid) to become a liquid), faire fondre (transitive: to change something from a solid to…)
Germanschmelzen (intransitive: (of a solid) to become a liquid), schmelzen lassen (transitive: to change something from a solid to…), Schmelze (molten material), Schmelzwasser (springtime snow runoff in mountain regions)
Portuguesederreter, fundir (intransitive: (of a solid) to become a liquid), liquefazer (transitive: to change something from a solid to…)
Spanishderretirse, fundirse (intransitive: (of a solid) to become a liquid), derretir, licuar (transitive: to change something from a solid to…), material fundido (molten material)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does melt come from?

From Middle English melten, from a merger of Old English meltan (intransitive) and mieltan (transitive), both meaning “to melt, digest,” from Proto-West Germanic *meltan and *maltijan, from Proto-Germanic *meltaną and *maltijaną, both from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- (“melt”). Cognate with Icelandic melta (“to digest”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after melt