soften

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /ˈsɔfən/ UK /ˈsɒfən/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to make or become softer, gentler, or less severe

A little warmth will soften the butter before baking.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to make or become softer,... mollify mellow tenderize cushion ease temper mitigate assuage

Opposites

harden stiffentoughenintensify

Word family

Derived forms softenersoftening

Related forms soft

Etymology

From soft + -en. Soft derives from Old English sōfte, sēfte ('gentle, mild, agreeable'), from Proto-Germanic *samftijaz ('level, even, gentle').

sōfte Old English *samftijaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# soften

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɔfən/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɒfən/

## Meanings
1. to make or become softer, gentler, or less severe

## Examples
- A little warmth will soften the butter before baking.

## Synonyms
- mollify
- mellow
- tenderize
- cushion
- ease
- temper
- mitigate
- assuage

## Antonyms
- harden
- stiffen
- toughen
- intensify

## Derived Forms
- softener
- softening

## Related Forms
- soft

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sōfte
- Root: *samftijaz
- Affix: -en - to make

## Etymology
From soft + -en. Soft derives from Old English sōfte, sēfte ('gentle, mild, agreeable'), from Proto-Germanic *samftijaz ('level, even, gentle').

## AI Etymology
Soften comes from soft + -en. Soft derives from Old English sōfte, sēfte ('gentle, mild, agreeable'), from Proto-Germanic *samftijaz ('level, even, gentle'). The historical chain includes Old English sōfte and Proto-Germanic *samftijaz. The quoted older senses, "gentle, mild, agreeable" and "level, even, gentle", supply the semantic anchors for soften. The formation is best read as suffixal and borrowed: the word soften carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a verb, "to make or become softer, gentler, or less severe". English derivatives include softener and softening; related English forms include soft. The result is a verb whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown