soften

English

Etymology

From Middle English softenen, softnen, equivalent to soft +‎ -en.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒfən/, enPR: sŏfʹen
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔf(t)ən/, enPR: sôfʹen
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑf(t)ən/, enPR: sŏfʹen

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

soften (third-person singular simple present softens, present participle softening, simple past and past participle softened)

1. (transitive) To make something soft or softer.

   Soften the butter before beating in the sugar.

2. (transitive) To undermine the morale of someone (often soften up).

   Before the invasion, we softened up the enemy with the artillery.

3. (transitive) To make less harsh

   Having second thoughts, I softened my criticism.

   • 2015 February 7, Helen Yemm, “Thorny problems: How can I soften a brick wall with plants?”, in The Daily Telegraph (London)‎^[1], page G7:

     I have recently reclad the south-west facing side of my single-storey cottage […] . I now want to plant some climbers of more manageable proportions to soften the building.

4. (intransitive) To become soft or softer

   The butter softened as it warmed up.

5. (transitive, intransitive, phonology) To become or make (a consonant) more lenis, to lenite.
6. (Slavic phonology) To palatalize.

Derived terms

• softener
• soften someone's cough
• soften the blow
• soften the ground
• soften up
• soften up the ground
• unsoftenable
• unsoftened
• unsoftening

 

Translations

(transitive) To make something soft or softer

• Albanian: zbut (sq)
• Azerbaijani: yumşaltmaq (az)
• Bulgarian: размеквам (bg) (razmekvam)
• Catalan: estovar (ca), ablanir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 軟化／软化 (zh) (ruǎnhuà)

• Danish: blødgøre
• Dutch: verzachten (nl)
• Finnish: pehmentää (fi), pehmittää (fi)
• French: adoucir (fr)
• Galician: suavizar (gl), amolecer (gl), amolegar, amolentar (gl)
• German: aufweichen (de), weichen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: μαλάσσω (malássō)

• Italian: ammorbidire (it), addolcire (it)
• Kazakh: жұмсарту (jūmsartu)
• Latin: molliō
• Maori: whakapē (refers to food), whakangāwari, whakangohengohe
• Norwegian: bløtgjøre
• Polish: zmiękczać (pl) impf, zmiękczyć pf
• Portuguese: amolecer (pt)
• Romanian: muia (ro), înmuia (ro)
• Russian: смягча́ть (ru) impf (smjaxčátʹ), смягчи́ть (ru) pf (smjaxčítʹ); размягча́ть (ru) impf (razmjaxčátʹ), размягчи́ть (ru) pf (razmjaxčítʹ)
• Sicilian: arrijuncari (scn)
• Spanish: ablandar (es), suavizar (es)
• Swedish: mjukna (sv)
• Tagalog: lumambot
• Turkish: yumuşatmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: пом'я́кшувати impf (pomʺjákšuvaty), пом'якши́ти pf (pomʺjakšýty), розм'я́кшувати impf (rozmʺjákšuvaty), розм'якши́ти pf (rozmʺjakšýty)
• ǃXóõ: gǃxàn (by pounding)

(transitive) To undermine the morale of someone (often soften up)

• Danish: blødgøre
• Finnish: pehmittää (fi)
• Italian: rendere arrendevole

(transitive) To make less harsh

• Azerbaijani: yumşaltmaq (az), mülayimləşdirmək
• Bulgarian: смекчавам (bg) (smekčavam)
• Finnish: pehmittää (fi)
• Italian: rendere malleabile, addolcire (it), ammorbidire (it)
• Portuguese: suavizar (pt)
• Russian: смягча́ть (ru) impf (smjaxčátʹ), смягчи́ть (ru) pf (smjaxčítʹ)
• Spanish: suavizar (es)

(intransitive) To become soft or softer

• Assamese: মজা (moza)
• Azerbaijani: yumşalmaq
• Bulgarian: омеквам (bg) (omekvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 變軟／变软 (zh) (biànruǎn)

• Danish: blødgøres
• Egyptian: (gnn)
• Finnish: pehmetä (fi), pehmentyä
• Galician: amolecer (gl)
• German: aufweichen (de), weichen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: μαλάσσομαι (malássomai)

• Ido: deshardeskar (io)
• Italian: ammorbidirsi
• Japanese: 柔らかくなる (やわらかくなる, yawarakaku naru), 軟らかくなる (やわらかくなる, yawarakaku naru)
• Latin: mollescō
• Polish: mięknąć (pl) impf, zmięknąć pf
• Russian: смягча́ться (ru) impf (smjaxčátʹsja), смягчи́ться (ru) pf (smjaxčítʹsja); размягча́ться (ru) impf (razmjaxčátʹsja), размягчи́ться (ru) pf (razmjaxčítʹsja)
• Spanish: ablandarse (es)
• Turkish: yumuşamak (tr)

See also

• mollify
• neshen

Anagrams

• Sefton