A medical term meaning 'sweetened with honey,' most commonly used in 'diabetes mellitus' to describe the sweet-tasting urine characteristic of diabetes.
From Latin mellitus meaning 'honeyed' or 'sweet like honey,' from mel (honey). Added to 'diabetes' in the 18th century when physicians discovered that diabetic urine attracted ants due to its sugar content.
Before modern blood tests, doctors literally tasted urine to diagnose diabetes - 'mellitus' preserves this ancient diagnostic method in its name, reminding us that medicine once required doctors to engage all their senses, not just their instruments.
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