• Today's Word

Dulcet

🔊 Listen to the word Dulcet

DUL-sit

Definition

(adjective) Sweet and soothing to the ear; melodious and gentle in sound

Example

The dulcet tones of the jazz trio drifted through the open windows and out into the warm evening air.

Word Origin

Dulcet derives from the Old French doucet, a diminutive of doux (“sweet”), itself from the Latin dulcis (“sweet”). It entered English in the 15th century, used first in music and poetry to describe sounds of particular sweetness and gentleness, and has retained that musical, lyrical quality ever since.

Fun Fact

Dulcet shares its Latin root dulcis with a surprising range of words — including dulce de leche, the caramel confection beloved across Latin America, and dulcimer, the stringed folk instrument whose very name means “sweet sound.” The connection between sweetness and pleasant sound is ancient and cross-cultural: in many languages, the same word for “sweet” does double duty to describe both taste and sound, suggesting that humans have long understood beauty in these two senses as fundamentally linked.