Soften

How to spell soften

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce soften

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does soften mean?

1. verbTo make or become less hard, less harsh, or more gentle.

Soften in a sentence

• Leave the butter out to soften before you start baking.

• A thick rug will soften the noise from the floor below.

Where does soften come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word built on the Old English adjective sōfte, which originally meant 'gentle', 'mild', or 'pleasant' rather than physically squishy; the sense of yielding to the touch came later. To turn that adjective into a verb, English added the productive suffix -en, the same ending that makes 'harden', 'sharpen', and 'widen', which carries the meaning 'to make or become'. The verb form appears in Middle English around the 1300s, neatly alongside the adjective 'soft' itself. The spelling trap is the letter t in the middle, which has fallen silent in modern speech, so the word sounds like 'soffen' even though it is written with the t inherited straight from 'soft'. Remembering that 'soften' is simply 'soft' plus '-en' is the surest way to keep that hidden t in place.

How the word is built

• soft (Old English sōfte: gentle, mild)
• -en (verb suffix meaning to make or become)