Where does “mollify” come from?
Mollify comes from Old French mollifier, from Late Latin mollificare, from Latin mollis meaning soft, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European mel- meaning soft or to crush.
mollify (English): To ease a burden, particularly worry; make less...
Definitions
- To ease a burden, particularly worry; make less...
Ancestry of “mollify”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | mollifien | To soften to make pliable |
| 2 | Latin | mollifico | to make soft or mollify |
| 3 | Latin | faciō | to do |
| 4 | Latin | -torium | nominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative... |
| 5 | Latin | -tōrius | ory |
| 6 | Latin | -tor | -er |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -tōr | Forms agent nouns to verb stems |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tōr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -tor-s | — |