A grain, usually barley, that has been treated with heat and moisture to develop its sugars, used in brewing and baking.
From Old English 'mealt,' related to the verb 'melt.' The process literally involves allowing grains to partially 'melt' or break down through germination and heat, making their starches and sugars available for fermentation.
Brewers have been using malt for over 5,000 years, and it's one of the oldest biotechnology processes humans developed—they're using living organisms (yeast) to transform grain into beer, which is basically fermentation engineering!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.