fondent

Fondent is a French verb form rather than a standalone term in English. It is the third-person plural present indicative form of the verb fondre, which means to melt or to fuse. In French, fondent is used when the subject is plural, as in statements about multiple objects that melt.

A typical example is: Les métaux fondent à haute température, meaning "The metals melt at high temperature." Another example could be Ils fondent coconuts et beurre dans la casserole, meaning "They melt coconuts and butter in the pan." Because it is a conjugated verb, fondent does not function as a noun in French and does not carry independent meaning outside its syntactic role.

In English contexts, fondent can appear only as part of quoted French text or within bilingual writing. The English-derived term fondant refers to a different concept, most often a sugar paste used in cake decorating or a molten-centered chocolate cake; these uses are unrelated to the French verb form fondent.

See also: fondant, fondue, molten center.