mild

From Middle English milde, from Old English milde (“mild”), from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz (“mild”), from Proto-Indo-European *meldʰ- (“to beat, pound, grind”), from Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“soft, weak, tender”). Cognate with Scots mild, myld (“mild”), Saterland Frisian milde (“mild”), West Frisian myld (“mild”), Dutch mild (“mild”), Low German milde (“mild”), German mild (“mild”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål mild (“mild”), Icelandic mildur (“mild”), Latin mollis (“soft, gentle”), Lithuanian malonus (“pleasing, pleasant, kind”), Old Norse mildr.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɪld/

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• Rhymes: -aɪld

mild (comparative milder, superlative mildest)

1. Gentle and not easily angered.

   a mild man

2. (of a rule or punishment) Of only moderate severity; not strict.

   He received a mild sentence.

3. Not overly felt or seriously intended.
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:

     I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed. And thus we came by a circuitous route to Mohair, the judge occupied by his own guilty thoughts, and I by others not less disturbing.

4. (of an illness or pain) Not serious or dangerous.
   • 2002, Rachel Simon, Riding the Bus with My Sister: A True Life Journey:

     I learn that mental retardation is classified in four levels: mild, moderate, severe, and profound.

   • 2003, Janice A. Gault, Ophthalmology Pearls:

     NPDR can be further classified as mild, moderate, severe, or very severe, which can help predict how quickly the patient may progress to proliferative (neovascular) diabetic retinopathy (PDR).

5. (of weather) Moderately warm, especially less cold than expected.

   a mild day

   mild weather

6. (of a medicine or cosmetic) Acting gently and without causing harm.

   a mild anaesthetic

7. (of food, drink, or a drug) Not sharp or bitter; not strong in flavor.

   a mild curry

• soft, gentle, bland, calm, tranquil, soothing, pleasant, placid, meek, kind, tender, indulgent, clement, mollifying, lenitive, assuasive
• See also Thesaurus:intermediate

• strong
• harsh, severe, irritating, violent, disagreeable

• mild-mannered
• mildly
• mildness
• mild steel

mild (plural milds)

1. (Britain) A relatively low-gravity beer, often with a dark colour; mild ale
   • 1998, Robert Rankin, The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag (page 112)

     'Let me get this for the lady,' I said to Fange, who was pulling her a pint of mild.

   • 2011, Pete Brown, Three Sheets to the Wind

     But Stella shouldn't really be drunk in pints the same way our dads used to drink bitter or mild that was effectively half as strong.

• mild and bitter

• mild in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• mild in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• mild at OneLook Dictionary Search

From Old Norse mildr.

• IPA^(key): /mil/, [milˀ]

mild

1. mild, gentle, soft
2. light, lenient

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From Middle Dutch milde, from Old Dutch mildi, from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz.

mild (comparative milder, superlative mildst)

1. mild

• milde (in the sense of merciful, otherwise archaic)

From Middle High German milte, from Old High German milti. The modern consonantism is Central and Low German; compare Middle Low German milde.

• IPA^(key): /mɪlt/

• Audio

  (file)

mild (comparative milder, superlative am mildesten)

1. mild (in all of its common senses)

From Old Norse mildr

mild (neuter singular mildt, definite singular and plural milde, comparative mildere, indefinite superlative mildest, definite superlative mildeste)

1. mild, gentle, lenient

• formilde
• lattermild
• mildhet

• “mild” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse mildr. Akin to English mild.

• IPA^(key): /mɪld/

mild (neuter singular mildt, definite singular and plural milde, comparative mildare, indefinite superlative mildast, definite superlative mildaste)

1. mild

   I mai er det ofte mildt i veret.

   In May, the weather is often mild

2. gentle
3. lenient

   Dommeren gav han ei mild straff.

   The judge gave him a lenient punishment.

• formilde
• lattermild

• “mild” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Old Frisian milde, from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz. More at mild.

mild

1. mild; gentle

From Old Swedish milder, from Old Norse mildr, from Proto-Germanic *mildijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *meldʰ-.

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  (file)

mild

1. mild, gentle
2. bland; not hot or strong (about taste of food)
3. weak; not corrosive or aggressive

   en mild ättiksyralösning

   a weak solution of acetic acid

4. not extreme; about weather: neither hot nor cold