Melodicize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Giving a piece of music or a spoken line a more tuneful, flowing and song-like quality
2. Shaping sounds or words so that they take on a pleasing, harmonious melody
3. Rendering a passage more lyrical and musical in its pitch and rhythm

Etymology: "Melodicize" is a verb formed by adding the suffix "-ize" to "melodic," which itself comes from "melody." The root traces back through Old French "melodie" to Latin "melodia," borrowed from Greek "melōidia," meaning a song or chant, built from "melos" (song, tune, limb) and "ōidē" (song, ode). The ancient Greek sense of "melos" also covered "limb," a connection that surprises many readers, since the word for a tune and the word for a body part share a source. English gained "melody" in the 14th century, and "melodic" followed in the 17th. "Melodicize" is a later formation, first recorded in the 19th century, when English writers and musicians freely attached "-ize" to adjectives to mean "make into or make like." It is a plain, transparent coinage with no famous inventor and no shift in meaning: it simply means to render something more melodic.

Synonyms: musicalize, harmonize, orchestrate, compose