malt

Meanings

Noun

• Malted grain (usually barley), used in brewing and otherwise.
• Malt liquor, especially malt whisky.
• A milkshake with malted milk powder added for flavor.
• Maltose-rich sugar derived from malted grain.

Verb

• To convert a cereal grain into malt by causing it to sprout (by soaking in water) and then halting germination (by drying with hot air) in order to develop enzymes that can break down starches and proteins in the grain.
• To become malt.
• To drink malt liquor.

Origin

• From Middle English malt, from Old English mealt, from Proto-Germanic *maltą ("malt"), from *maltaz, from Proto-Indo-European *meld-, *mled-. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Moalt ("malt"), Dutch mout ("malt"), German Malz ("malt"), Swedish malt ("malt"), Old Church Slavonic младъ ("tender; young"), Russian молодой ("young; fresh; new"). The Proto-Germanic noun was borrowed into Proto-Slavic as *malta; compare Ukrainian мо́лот, Czech mláto. More at melt.