# moulder

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈməʊldə/ · frequency rank #82,562

## Definitions
1. Often followed by away or down: to cause (something) to decay or rot, or to crumble to pieces.
2. To cause (someone or something) to die away or disappear.
3. Often followed by away: to decay or rot, or to crumble to pieces.
4. To die away, to disappear.
5. Often followed by away: of a group of people (especially an army): to diminish in number; to dwindle.

## Etymology
From mould (“loose friable soil; rotting earth regarded as the substance of the human body”) + -er (suffix forming frequentative verbs), probably influenced by mould (“furry growth of fungi”). Mould is derived from Middle English mold, molde (“loose friable soil, dirt, earth; earth as the substance out of which God made man, and to which the human body decays into after death”), from Old English molde (“earth, soil”), from Proto-Germanic *muldō (“dirt, soil; furry growth of fungi, mould”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush, grind”).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/moulder