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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Flowing with sweetness or honey.
  2. adj. Smooth and sweet: "polite and cordial, with a mellifluous, well-educated voice” ( H.W. Crocker III).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Flowing or dropping like honey; hence, sweetly or smoothly flowing, especially in sound.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. Flowing like honey.
  2. adj. Sweet and smooth; generally used of a person's voice, tone or writing style.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Flowing as with honey; smooth; flowing sweetly or smoothly.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. pleasing to the ear

Etymologies

  1. Middle English, from Late Latin mellifluus : Latin mel, mell-, honey; see melit- in Indo-European roots + Latin -fluus, flowing; see bhleu- in Indo-European roots.

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  • michaelt42 Mellifluous is an example of a word the fantasy of which has overtaken the reality. One imagines honeycomb as it is taken from the hive, dripping with the clear lightly coloured fluid and all the Marie Antoinette stuff, but she ain't going to recover refined honey, still less go out there with her protective suit and visor to harvest the comb from the hive. The fantasy is of a land overflowing with milk and honey, the reality is that these benefits have to be won by the labour of the beekeeper and the milkmaid. Little wonder that mellifluous is generally associated with the quality of the sound of music or of words, spoken or sung. Dec 7, 2011
  • Adithya Raghunathan (too) often used in Carnatic music album notes.... Nov 22, 2011
  • yarb In the parlance of our times, synaesthetic much?

    (Actually I find that description every bit as nauseating as the word, so... nice one!) Nov 19, 2009
  • PossibleUnderscore I imagine this word to be undulating and waving gently, streaked a strange combination of light blue and light brown, surrounded by miniscule green and yellow squares. Nov 19, 2009
  • Jubjub This word doesn't work. It never has. It's too ... too what? Too sweet? Too obvious? Too forced? Too tongue-tying? And the imagery it evokes is sticky, slow, and viscous-- sort of the opposite of what it wants to do.
    Nov 14, 2009
  • mcgelligot I found a reference to mellifluous in regard to the flow of the written word at Frog Princeps it is a blog:
    "The book rewards the reader with a mellifluous flow of language that will startle, intrigue and bewitch the reader." Nov 14, 2009
  • etaoinsrdlu (smellifluous: Pleasing to the nose?) Jan 17, 2009
  • chained_bear It is indeed.

    I always start singing the truffula song from The Lorax. However the hell you spell truffula... Dec 3, 2008
  • andreatheawesome I always imagine the visual image of the word mellifluous to be a soft brown/chocolate wavy line, flowing genltly and quietly in/on a cream colored space.
    Mellifluous is a mellifluous word. Dec 3, 2008
  • savingrace mellifluous- i first became familiar with this word while reading june jordan. she used it eloquently, with great image and soul. she described a biblical land overflowing with milk and honey. the word is certainly a graceful and refreshing throwback to a chimerical land laced with sweet leche y miel. Nov 22, 2008
  • nlaroche Similar in pattern, yes, I think is what I meant to imply by my question... I love the beauty of mellifluous and "picturesque" just doesn't compare. Perhaps I'm still on a hunt. Sep 25, 2008
  • mollusque Similar in pattern of derivation? Probably not. Similar in meaning, yes, but finding a word that means only "pleasing to the eye" and hasn't been broadened to include other senses (in both senses) is tough.

    How about beauteous or picturesque? Sep 24, 2008
  • vanishedone Photogenic? Sep 24, 2008
  • gangerh Eye candy? Sep 24, 2008
  • nlaroche Is there a visual equivalent to this word? I'd love to know it. Sep 24, 2008
  • chicie honey should be included in the definition.
    this is an amazing word, almost an onomatopoeia. Jul 21, 2008
  • yarb I am not as mellifluous as Sir John Betjeman.

    - Peter Reading, Opinions of the Press, from Fiction, 1979 Jun 26, 2008
  • prasadkdr Mellifluous means pleasing to the ear Apr 28, 2008
  • frindley See also grandiloquent/grandiloquence.
    Mellifluous grandiloquence is something else altogether! Mar 16, 2008
  • chesler This was a favorite of the greatest orator I ever had the honor to learn from, Richard Sodikow, Speech & Debate Coach, The Bronx HS of Science. When he said it, he demonstrated just how well it flowed like honey past his lips. Mar 1, 2008
  • bilby Honey doesn't flow much and creamed honey doesn't flow at all. Dec 18, 2007
  • ravages smooth, sweet, feminine.

    describing a language?

    of greek origin(?) Dec 18, 2007
  • artistx Doesn't it just flow! Great word Apr 19, 2007
  • seanmeade mellifluous is such a great sounding word! ;-) Mar 26, 2007
  • valse Wonderful etymology: "flowing with honey." The word can be used in that literal sense, but the "metaphorical" sense (e.g. to describe someone's voice or movement) just works really nicely. Jan 14, 2007

‘mellifluous’ has been looked up 8389 times, loved by 105 people, added to 386 lists, commented on 25 times, and has a Scrabble score of 16.