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Added 10 October 2026

malt

/mɒlt/ noun

In Latin: maltum Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about malt at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A milkshake made with malt powder.
A lager of high alcohol content; by law it is considered too alcoholic to be sold as lager or beer.
A cereal grain (usually barley) that is kiln-dried after having been germinated by soaking in water; used especially in brewing and distilling.

verb

Treat with malt or malt extract.
malt beer
Turn into malt, become malt.
Convert grain into malt.

Origin

From Middle English malt, from Old English mealt, from Proto-West Germanic *malt, from Proto-Germanic *maltą (“malt”), from *maltaz (“soft; nesh; weak; squashy; melting”), from Proto-Indo-European *meld-, *mled- (“to crush; grind; make weak”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Moalt (“malt”), Dutch mout (“malt”), German Malz (“malt”), Swedish malt (“malt”), Old Church Slavonic младъ (mladŭ, “tender; young”), Russian молодой (molodoj, “young; fresh; new”). The Proto-Germanic noun was borrowed into Proto-Slavic as *malta; compare Ukrainian мо́лот (mólot), Czech mláto. More at melt.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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