Malleable

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ˈmæliÉ™bÉ™l/
• Hyphenation: mal + le + a + ble

Origin

From Middle English malliable, borrowed from Late Latin malleābilis, derived from malleāre ("to hammer"), from malleus ("hammer"), from Proto-Indo-European *mal-ni- ("crushing"), an extended variant of Proto-Indo-European *melH₂- ("crush, grind").

Full definition of malleable

Adjective

1. Able to be hammered into thin sheets; capable of being extended or shaped by beating with a hammer, or by the pressure of rollers.
2. (metaphorical) Flexible, liable to change.My opinion on the subject is malleable.
3. (cryptography, of an algorithm) in which an adversary can alter a ciphertext such that it decrypts to a related plaintext

Related terms

• malleability
• malleableness
• malleably
• malleate

Coordinate terms

• ductile