mild - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English milde, from Old English milde (“mild”), from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz (“mild”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to beat, pound, grind”).

Cognate with Scots mild, myld (“mild”), Saterland Frisian milde (“mild”), West Frisian myld (“mild”), Dutch mild (“mild”), Low German milde (“mild”), German mild (“mild”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål mild (“mild”), Icelandic mildur (“mild”), Latin mollis (“soft, gentle”), Lithuanian malonus (“pleasing, pleasant, kind”), Old Norse mildr.

mild (comparative milder, superlative mildest)

  1. Gentle and not easily angered.
    a mild man
  2. (of a rule or punishment) Of only moderate severity; not strict.
    He received a mild sentence.
  3. Not overly felt or seriously intended.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.
  4. (of an illness or pain) Not serious or dangerous.
    • 2003, Janice A. Gault, Ophthalmology Pearls:
      NPDR can be further classified as mild, moderate, severe, or very severe, which can help predict how quickly the patient may progress to proliferative (neovascular) diabetic retinopathy (PDR).
  5. (of weather) Moderately warm, especially less cold than expected.
    a mild day
    mild weather
  6. (of a medicine or cosmetic) Acting gently and without causing harm.
    a mild anaesthetic
  7. (of food, drink, or a drug) Not sharp or bitter; not strong in flavor.
    a mild curry

gentle; pleasant; kind; soft

mild (plural milds)

  1. (British) A relatively low-gravity beer, often with a dark colour; mild ale
    • 1998, Robert Rankin, The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag, page 112:
      'Let me get this for the lady,' I said to Fange, who was pulling her a pint of mild.
    • 2011, Pete Brown, Three Sheets to the Wind:
      But Stella shouldn't really be drunk in pints the same way our dads used to drink bitter or mild that was effectively half as strong.

From Old Norse mildr.

mild (neuter mildt, plural and definite singular attributive milde)

  1. mild, gentle, soft
  2. light, lenient

Inflection of mild

| | positive | comparative | superlative | | | -------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | | indefinite common singular | mild | mildere | mildest2 | | indefinite neuter singular | mildt | mildere | mildest2 | | plural | milde | mildere | mildest2 | | definite attributive1 | milde | mildere | mildeste |

1 When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
2 The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

From Middle Dutch milde, from Old Dutch mildi, from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz.

mild (comparative milder, superlative mildst)

  1. mild
Declension of mild
uninflected mild
inflected milde
comparative milder
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial mild milder het mildsthet mildste
indefinite m./f. sing. milde mildere mildste
n. sing. mild milder mildste
plural milde mildere mildste
definite milde mildere mildste
partitive milds milders —

From Middle High German milte, from Old High German milti. The modern consonantism is Central and Low German; compare Middle Low German milde.

mild (strong nominative masculine singular milder, comparative milder, superlative am mildesten)

  1. mild (in all of its common senses)

Comparative forms of mild

Superlative forms of mild

From Old Norse mildr.

mild (neuter singular mildt, definite singular and plural milde, comparative mildere, indefinite superlative mildest, definite superlative mildeste)

  1. mild, gentle, lenient

From Old Norse mildr, from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz. Akin to English mild.

mild (neuter mildt, definite singular and plural milde, comparative mildare, indefinite superlative mildast, definite superlative mildaste)

  1. mild
    I mai er det ofte mildt i veret.
    In May, the weather is often mild
  2. gentle
  3. lenient
    Dommeren gav han ei mild straff.
    The judge gave him a lenient punishment.

From Old Frisian milde, from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz. More at mild.

mild

  1. mild; gentle

From Old Swedish milder, from Old Norse mildr, from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *meldʰ-.

mild (comparative mildare, superlative mildast)

  1. mild
    en mild vinter
    a mild winter
    mild citronsmak
    mild lemon flavor
    ett milt straff
    a mild punishment
    Det gick inte helt perfekt, milt uttryckt
    It didn't go perfectly, to put it mildly ("mildly expressed")
    1. gentle
      en mild sommarbris
      a gentle summer breeze
      en vänlig och mild man
      a kind and gentle man
    2. soft
      tapeter med milda färger
      wallpaper with soft colors