soften
/ˈsɔfən/verb
soften is spelled S-O-F-T-E-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, soften means “To make something soft or softer” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in soften?
| Letters | 6: S-O-F-T-E-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.3 times per million words; the 18,064th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is soften?
Soften appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th 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 soften?
- UK /ˈsɒfən/
- US /ˈsɔfən/
- US /ˈsɑfən/
Soften has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-soften.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of soften
- softens present, singular, he/she/it
- softening participle, present
- softened participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does soften mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To make something soft or softer.
Soften the butter before beating in the sugar.
- 2
To undermine the morale of someone (often soften up).
Before the invasion, we softened up the enemy with the artillery.
- 3
To make less harsh.
Having second thoughts, I softened my criticism.
- 4
To become soft or softer.
The butter softened as it warmed up.
- 5
To become or make (a consonant) more lenis, to lenite.
- 6
To palatalize.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Soften in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | adoucir |
| German | aufweichen, weichen |
| Portuguese | amolecer , suavizar |
| Spanish | ablandar, suavizar, emblandecer, reblandecer, enllentecer, enternecer |
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 soften come from?
From Middle English softenen, softnen, equivalent to soft + -en.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).