mellifluous
adjective

- having a pleasant and fluid sound

- a mellifluous voice or piece of music is smooth and gentle and very pleasant to listen to

The American Heritage Dictionary / Collins Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

Mellifluous comes from two Latin roots: mel meaning "honey" and fluere meaning "to flow”.

These roots are combined to form the Late Latin word mellifluus, which literally translates to "flowing with honey."  Over time, this word evolved into the English word "mellifluous" in the 14th century, taking on the figurative meaning of something that is "sweet-sounding" or "pleasant to the ear."

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THE VALUE OF VOICE

Boris Johnson has received £2.5m as an advance for speeches, meaning he has received earnings, hospitality and donations worth more than £5m since leaving office.

Why does Boris Johnson command enormous sums of money for public speaking?

The journalist Janan Ganesh concluded that it’s partly Johnson’s voice which she describes as: “Beautiful … deep and textured, raspy without crossing into sibilance”.

Certainly, we make snap decisions based on voices, and they can be classist, racist and sexist. The Sutton Trust research on accents indicates that nearly half of adults consulted (46%) had been singled out or mocked socially for their accent. African-Caribbean and Indian accents, plus Mancunian (Manchester), Scouse (Liverpool) and Brummie (Birmingham) were considered the least “prestigious”. Women are rated higher socially if they have deeper voices, while younger, more feminine forms of speech, such as vocal fry (rasping, drawn out word endings) and upspeak (making non-questions sound like questions), are met with widespread disapproval.

Is it possible to develop one’s voice? Certainly! Margaret Thatcher's distinctive deep and husky voice—the result of coaching aimed at projecting a more authoritative and commanding presence—likely contributed to her electoral success.

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SYNONYMS

ambrosial, caressingly soft, dulcet, euphonic, euphonious, flutelike, golden-tongued (-voiced), honey-tongued, lilting, lively, MELLIFLUOUS, melodic, melodious, nectarial, nectarious, nightingalish, silken, silky, smooth as oil (silk), songful, sonorous, sweet-flowing (-lipped, -mouthed, -sounded, -spoken, -toned, -tongued, -voiced), symphonious, tuneful, tunesome, velvety

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation, say something like:

"Don't you just love listening to audiobooks with a MELLIFLUOUS narrator?"

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