Meld

Meld is a verb meaning to blend, merge, or harmonize elements so that they form a coherent whole. The term is used across everyday language and in specialized contexts such as cooking, design, and music, where separate parts are combined to produce a unified result.

In card games, a meld refers to a set or run of cards laid down to form a scoring unit. Melds are often required or encouraged to be shown to opponents, and they contribute to a player's score or to the progress of the game. Different games have varying rules about what constitutes a valid meld and when it may be laid down.

Meld is also the name of a cross-platform visual diff and merge tool used by software developers. It compares files and directories, supports side-by-side viewing, and provides three-way merge capabilities to resolve conflicts during version control workflows. Meld emphasizes an intuitive interface and interactive editing to facilitate code integration.

In medicine, MELD stands for the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease. The MELD score is used to assess the severity of chronic liver disease and to prioritize patients for liver transplantation. It relies on laboratory measures such as bilirubin, the international normalized ratio (INR), and creatinine, with newer variants incorporating additional factors like serum sodium. The score aims to reflect short-term mortality risk rather than disease duration.

Overall, meld denotes the act of combining in general use, with specialized meanings in games, software, and medicine that capture the idea of assembling parts to form a greater whole or to assess risk.