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malt

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malt¹

  • /mɒlt/ UK
  • /mɔːlt/ UK
  • /mɔlt/ US
  • /mɑlt/ cot caught merger

Rhymes with -ɒlt, -ɔːlt

Where it comes from

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.

noun malts

  1. countable, uncountable Malted grain (sprouted grain) (usually barley), used in brewing and otherwise.
  2. countable, uncountable Malt liquor, especially malt whisky. Oh many a peer of England brews Livelier liquor than the Muse, And malt does more than Milton can To justify God's ways to man.
  3. US, countable, informal, uncountable A milkshake with malted milk powder added for flavor. Afterward she sat in the drugstore sucking malt through a straw.

    Similar: malted

  4. countable, uncountable Maltose-rich sugar derived from malted grain.

verb malts · malting · malted

  1. transitive To convert a cereal grain into malt by causing it to sprout (by soaking in water) and then halting germination (by drying with hot air) in order to develop enzymes that can break down starches and proteins in the grain.
  2. intransitive To become malt.
  3. dated, humorous, intransitive To drink malt liquor.

MALT²

noun

  1. abbreviation, initialism, uncountable Initialism of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: malt liquor, malted milk, whiskey, whisky, brewing, syrup, milkshake, ale, barley, brewery, brasserie, diastase, scotch, weight, extract, shake

Translations

Every language

noun sprouted grain used in brewing

Españolmalta
한국어엿기름 yeotgireum
日本語麦芽 bakuga
中文麥芽 /麦芽 màiyá
Portuguêsmalte
Françaismalt
DeutschMalz
Italianomalto
Ελληνικάβύνη výni
Русскийсо́лод sólod
Tiếng Việtmạch nha
العربيةمَلْت malt
עבריתלֶתֶת létet

noun malted milkshake

Españolmalteada

verb to convert grain into malt

Portuguêsmaltar
Françaismalter
Deutschmälzen
Italianomaltare

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Cite this
MLA

"malt." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/malt. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

malt. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/malt

Chicago

"malt." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/malt.

BibTeX
@misc{malt_2026,
  title = {malt},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/malt},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}