different between mellifluous vs soubrette

English

Etymology

From Latin mellifluus (“flowing like honey”), from mel (“honey”) + flu? (“flow”). Compare superfluous and fluid, from same root, and with dulcet (“sweet speech”), alternative Latinate term with a similar meaning.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /m??l?flu.?s/, /m??l?flu.?s/

Adjective

mellifluous (comparative more mellifluous, superlative most mellifluous)

1. Flowing like honey.
2. (figuratively) Sweet, smooth and musical; pleasant to hear (generally used of a person's voice, tone or writing style).

   Synonyms: birdsweet, dulcet, euphonious, mellifluent

   • 1853: Sir Egerton Brydges, "Life of Milton"

     No verses can be more mellifluous than Petrarch's: something of this will perhaps be attributed to the softness of the Italian language; but the English tongue is also capable of it, however obstinately Johnson may have pronounced otherwise.

Derived terms

• mellifluousness

Related terms

• melliloquent
• superfluous

Translations

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French soubrette, from Occitan soubreta (“coy”) (feminine of soubret), from soubra (Provençal sobrar), from Latin superare (“be above”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su??b??t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

soubrette (plural soubrettes)

1. A female attendant or servant, especially one who is cheeky or mischievous, often featuring in theatrical comedies.
   • 1969, Film Bulletin, Volume 38, page 127:

     This version of the fragile, yet touching story accents the romance and courtship of the schoolmaster, properly called Mr. Chipping, and the music hall soubrette he falls in love with while vacationing in Pompeii.

   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon:

     The servants in the hall tonight are whitely-wigged black slaves in livery of a certain grade of satin and refinement of lace,– black Major-domos and black Soubrettes.

Translations

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Occitan soubreto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su.b??t/

Noun

soubrette f (plural soubrettes)

1. (theater) maid (female servant (role) in a theatrical performance)
2. maid (female servant)

Further reading

• “soubrette” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• brouettes, brouettés

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from French soubrette.

Noun

soubrette f (invariable)

1. showgirl