mel

Mel, mellis is third declension neuter. Being neuter, the nominative and accusative are identical in both numbers, so mel does the work of both subject and object and you lean on the verb to tell them apart. The plural mella exists but is rare: honey is a mass, and Latin mostly treats it as one.

The ablative melle is where you will meet it most, in comparisons (dulcius melle, "sweeter than honey") and in recipes. It gives English mellifluous, "flowing with honey", and sits behind the name Melissa, Greek for "bee". Cato and the medical writers use it constantly as a sweetener and a preservative, which is a reminder that for a Roman kitchen there was no sugar at all.