Meaning

noun the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid

verb reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating

verb become or cause to become soft or liquid

originFrom Middle English melten, from a merger of Old English meltan (intransitive) and mieltan (transitive), both meaning “to melt, digest,” from Proto-West Germanic *meltan and *maltijan, from Proto-Germanic *meltaną and *maltijaną, both from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- (“melt”). Cognate with Icelandic melta (“to digest”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0