dulce

• IPA^(key): /dʌls/

Alteration of earlier douce, from Middle English douce, from Old French douz, douce. Doublet of dolce, douce, and doux.

dulce (comparative more dulce, superlative most dulce)

1. (obsolete) sweet

dulce (countable and uncountable, plural dulces)

1. (obsolete, uncountable) Sweetness.
2. (obsolete, countable) Something sweet; a sweetmeat.
   • 1871, Charles Washburn, The History of Paraguay:

     The guava […] is seldom eaten except when preserved with sirup or sugar. In this form it is one of the favorite dulces of the country.

From Middle English doucen, from the adjective (see above).

dulce (third-person singular simple present dulces, present participle dulcing, simple past and past participle dulced)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To sweeten or soothe^[1]

Alteration of dulse.

dulce (countable and uncountable, plural dulces)

1. Alternative form of dulse.
2. seaweed; kelp

• Leduc, clued

• duze (Ribagorzan)
• dolso (Benasqués)

From Latin dulcis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdulθe/
• IPA^(key): /ˈdulse/ (Benasquese)
• Syllabification: dul‧ce
• Rhymes: -ulθe

dulce (feminine dulza, masculine plural dulces, feminine plural dulzas)

1. sweet

• “dulce”, in Aragonario, diccionario castellano–aragonés (in Spanish)

From Latin dulcem, accusative of dulcis (“sweet”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdulθe/ [ˈd̪ul̟.θe]
• Rhymes: -ulθe
• Syllabification: dul‧ce

dulce (epicene, plural dulces)

1. sweet

• dulzura

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈdʊɫ.kɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈdul̠ʲ.t͡ʃe]

dulce

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of dulcis

dulce (comparative dulcius, superlative dulcissimē, adjective dulcis)

1. synonym of dulciter: sweetly, agreeably, delightfully
   • c. 70 BCE, Gaius Valerius Catullus, Codex Vaticanus Ottobonianus Latinus 1829 Carmina 51:

     Ille mi par esse deo videtur, / ille, si fas est, superare divos, / qui sedens adversus identidem te / spectat et audit // dulce ridentem, misero quod omnes / eripit sensus mihi: nam simul te, / Lesbia, aspexi, nihil est super mi / <vocis in ore;> // lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus / flamma demanat, sonitu suopte / tintinant aures, gemina teguntur / lumina nocte.

     He seems to me to be equal to a god, / he, if it is permissible, / seems to surpass the gods, / who sitting opposite again and again / watches and hears you // sweetly laughing, which rips out all senses / from miserable me: for at the same moment I look upon you, / Lesbia, nothing is left for me / <of my voice in my mouth;> // But my tongue grows / thick, a thin flame / runs down beneath my limbs, with their own sound / my ears ring, my lights (eyes) / are covered by twin night.

   • c. 125 CE – 180 CE, Apuleius, Metamorphoses 5.1:

     tanta mentis perturbatione sedata, dulce conquievit.

     with so great a disturbance of mind having been calmed, she rested pleasantly.

• “dulce”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “dulce”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “dulce”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Inherited from Latin dulcem. Compare Aromanian dultsi. Reinforcement by Italian dolce is possible.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdult͡ʃe/

• Audio:

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dulce m or f or n (plural dulci)

1. sweet

   Antonym: amar

• dulceag
• dulceață
• dulciu

• îndulci
• dulcoare

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin dulcem (“sweet”). Also found in Old Spanish with the forms duz, duce (compare Portuguese doce).^[1] Cognate with English dulcet.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdulθe/ [ˈd̪ul̟.θe] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /ˈdulse/ [ˈd̪ul.se] (Latin America, Philippines)

• Audio (Colombia):

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• Rhymes: -ulθe (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• Rhymes: -ulse (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: dul‧ce

dulce m or f (masculine and feminine plural dulces, superlative dulcísimo)

1. sweet (having a pleasant taste, especially induced by sugar)

   Antonym: salado

   • 2004, Akira Yamaoka, translated by from English, Tender Sugar:

     Me salva la dulce azúcar, es la habitación que me confina

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. sweet (having a pleasant disposition)
3. (of water) fresh (without salt)

   Antonym: salada

dulce m (plural dulces)

1. candy, sweet

   Synonyms: caramelo, golosina, chuche (Spain)

2. sweet food, dessert

   Synonym: postre

3. thick jelly or fudge

   Synonyms: ate, manjar

• → Central Bikol: dulse
• → O'odham: lu꞉lsi

• “dulce”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025