Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “molasses” come from?

Molasses comes from French molasse, from Latin mollis meaning soft, ultimately deriving from Proto-Indo-European mel- meaning soft or mild.

molasses (English): A thick brownish syrup produced in the refining...

Definitions

  1. A thick brownish syrup produced in the refining...

Ancestry of “molasses”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Portuguesemelaçomolasses
2Portuguese-açoForming augmentatives; words expressing greatness...
3Old Portuguese-aço—
4Latin-āceus—
5Latin-āx—
6Latin-iumSuffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes...
7Latin-iusforming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter...
8Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
9Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems

Words derived from “molasses”

  • molasseslike
  • molasseses
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →