Etymograph

English

malleable

Malleable comes from Latin malleāre ‘to hammer’, from Proto-Indo-European *mal-ni- ‘crushing’, and ultimately from *melh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-1‘crush, grind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mal-ni-1‘crushing’reconstructedextended variant of *melh₂-
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalleus1‘hammer’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalleāre1‘to hammer’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmalleābilis1
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600malléable1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2024malleable1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English malleable
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2024, Lorna Camus, Autistic Traits and Psychosocial Predictors of Depressive Sy: “The psychosocial factors in this study are malleable and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-Wiktionary, English malleable‘crush, grind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mal-ni-Wiktionary, English malleable‘crushing’reconstructedextended variant of *melh₂-
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalleusWiktionary, English malleable‘hammer’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalleāreWiktionary, English malleable‘to hammer’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmalleābilisWiktionary, English malleable
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600malléableWiktionary, English malleable
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2024malleableWiktionary, English malleable. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2024, Lorna Camus, Autistic Traits and Psychosocial Predictors of Depressive Sy: “The psychosocial factors in this study are malleable and…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- ‘crush, grind’

mill, mild, meal, mold, mould, mole, mule, camo, bonanza, molar, melatonin, muller, moulin, mull, moline, maelstrom, amalgam, martel, amyl, malm, 41 more

through Latin malleus ‘hammer’

maul, 3 more

Today it means

adj Able to be hammered into thin sheets; capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “malleable”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- / malleable

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