mellifluous

Definition

Flowing like honey.

Etymology

From Latin mellifluus (“flowing like honey”), from mel (“honey”) + fluō (“flow”). Compare superfluous and fluid, from same root, and with dulcet (“sweet speech”), alternative Latinate term with a similar meaning.

Example Sentences

• "Though in heaven the trees / Of life ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines / Yield nectar; though from off the boughs each morn / VVe brush mellifluous devvs, and find the ground / Cover'd vvith pearly grain[…]"
• "[…] Socrates […] VVisest of men; from vvhose mouth issued forth / Mellifluous streams that vvater'd all the schools / Of Academicks old and nevv […]"
• "Join'd to Theſe [birds], / Thouſands beſide, thick as the covering Leaves / VVhich ſpeck them o'er, their Modulations mix / Mellifluous."

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