malleable

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

Arts, Literature, Language Courses, Education

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🗓️ 7 April 2025

⏱️ 2 minutes

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Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 7, 2025 is:

malleable • \MAL-ee-uh-bul\ • adjective

Something described as malleable is capable of being stretched or bent into different shapes, or capable of being easily changed or influenced.

// Let the cookie dough thaw until it becomes malleable enough to thinly roll.

// Students' minds are malleable and they need positive influences and guidance.

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Examples:

"She begins by sculpting with malleable French clays to create her figures, then she makes a mold." — Fina Badolato, The Rochester (New York) Democrat and Chronicle, 13 Feb. 2022

Did you know?

Language is constantly evolving; the meanings, spellings, and pronunciations of words are reshaped over time. Take, for example, the Latin noun malleus, meaning "hammer." This word was adapted to create the Latin verb malleare, meaning "to hammer," which led eventually to the English adjective malleable. Malleable originally meant "capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer," and over time adopted the broader sense "capable of being shaped, altered, or controlled." If you guessed that maul and mallet, other English words for specific types of hammers, are also modeled from malleus, you have hit the nail on the head.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Word of the Day podcast for April 7th.
0:11.0	Today's word is malleable, spelled M-A-L-L-E-A-B-L-E. Malleable is an adjective.
0:20.0	Something described as malleable is capable of being
0:22.6	stretched or bent into different shapes, or capable of being easily changed or influenced.
0:28.7	Here's the word used in a sentence from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
0:33.3	She begins by sculpting with malleable French clays to create her figures.
0:38.9	Then she makes a mold.
0:42.0	Language is constantly evolving.
0:46.2	The meaning, spellings, and pronunciations of words are reshaped over time.
0:50.6	Take, for example, the Latin noun, Malius, meaning hammer. This word was adapted to create the Latin verb, maliare, meaning to hammer,
0:56.2	which led eventually to the English adjective malleable. Malleable originally meant
1:00.9	capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, and over time adopted the broader
1:07.2	sense, capable of being shaped, altered, or controlled. If you guessed that the words
1:12.5	mall and mallet, other English words for specific types of hammers, are also modeled from
1:18.3	malleuse, you've hit the nail on the head. With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.
1:27.2	Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups.

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