mellow

Meanings

Adjective

• Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.
• Matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
• Soft and easily penetrated or worked; not hard or rigid; loamy.
• Pleasing in some way; excellent, fantastic, great.

Noun

• The property of being mellow; mellowness.
• A comfortable or relaxed mood.
• Also main mellow: a close friend or lover.

Origin

• The adjective is derived from Late Middle English melowe, melwe; further etymology uncertain, possibly:
• from an attributive use of melow, melowe, melewe, mele, from Old English melo, melu, from Proto-Germanic *melwą, from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-; or
• a variant of Middle English merow, merowe, meruw, from Old English meru, mearu, from Proto-Germanic *marwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *mer(w)-.
• The noun and verb are both derived from the adjective. The etymology of noun sense 3 (“close friend; lover”) is unknown, but may also be derived from the adjective.
• Dutch murw
• German mürbe
• German Low German möör
• Old Norse mör (Icelandic meyr)
• Saterland Frisian muur
• West Frisian murf