Softened

How to spell softened

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce softened

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does softened mean?

1. verbMade or became less hard, less firm, less harsh, or less severe.

Softened in a sentence

• The butter softened on the counter and was easy to spread.

• She softened her tone once she saw how upset he was.

Where does softened come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word builds on the native English adjective 'soft', which comes from the Old English softe, an earlier seofte, meaning gentle, mild, or agreeable. The verb 'soften' was formed by adding the suffix -en, a productive ending that turns adjectives into verbs meaning 'to make or become', the same pattern seen in harden, sharpen, and weaken. 'Softened' is simply the past tense and past participle of that verb, recorded in English from around the 1500s. The spelling trap is the silent letter and the cluster at the end: the 't' is barely heard, and the -en plus -ed sequence is easy to slur in speech, so writers sometimes drop a letter. Keeping the root 'soft' clearly in mind, then layering '-en' and '-ed' onto it, helps lock the spelling in place.

How the word is built

• soft (Old English sof011fte: gentle, mild)
• -en (verb-forming suffix: to make or become)
• -ed (past tense suffix)