Word of the Day

: August 19, 2020

dulcet

adjective DUL-sut

What It Means

1 : sweet to the taste

2 : pleasing to the ear

3 : generally pleasing or agreeable

dulcet in Context

"James Blake has long been one of our favorite live performers, bringing his gentle, dulcet tenor and aching emotion to each and every concert." — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 10 Apr. 2020

"About six weeks after bottling, the stout proved to be great. It was full bodied and rich with a dark chocolate note, roasted flavors, tart and dulcet cherry flavors and a bit of tannins like you would find in a fine red wine." — Gordon Kendall, The Roanoke (Virginia) Times, 24 Mar. 2020 

Did You Know?

Dulcet has many linguistic ancestors, including the Latin dulcis, Anglo-French douz, and Middle English doucet—all meaning "sweet." The dulcet dulcis has contributed many sweet terms to English. Among these are the musical direction dolce ("to be played sweetly, softly"), Dulciana (a type of pipe organ stop made up of flue pipes), dolcian (a small bassoon-like instrument used in the 16th and 17th centuries), and dulcimer (an American folk instrument). On a similar note, the word dulcify means "to make sweet," and the adjective doux, derived from Old French douz, is used in wine circles to describe champagne that is sweet.