meaning of Mild

Meaning
mild means cold.

Sorry, that's not right. Mild means "not extreme." A mild chili is not highly seasoned with hot peppers, a mild day is neither hot nor cold. A mild cold doesn't make you very sick, and a mild reprimand lets you know you've made a mistake, but not in a way that makes you feel worthless.

The basic meaning of mild is "gentle" (in fact in modern German it still means that). If you keep that in mind, then all these phrases are perfectly clear:

- mildly spiced
- mild laxative
- mild frost
- mild rebuke
- gentle Jesus, meek and mild

In the UK there is one use that isn't immediately obvious: "mild ale" or "mild beer", which we often call just "mild", is a beer made with no hops, or very few hops. This is because hops have a bitter flavour, so beer made without hops is mild compared to "bitter beer", which is the heavily-hopped kind and has quite a sharp taste.

Correctamundo!