mollis

Mollis, molle is a third declension adjective of two terminations: one form for masculine and feminine, molle for the neuter. Ablative singular molli, neuter plural mollia, genitive plural mollium. Its straight opposite is durus, and the pair turns up constantly in descriptions of ground, weather, wax, voices and characters.

The extended sense is where it bites. Applied to a person, mollis is not a compliment: it means soft in the sense of unmanly, self-indulgent, unfit to campaign, and Roman writers use it as an insult with a sexual edge. English mollify, emollient and mollusc all descend from it, as does mild by a longer route. Note molli, the ablative, is one letter from mollis and easy to misread.