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in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
bars of soap
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English sope , sape , from Old English sāpe ( “ soap, salve ” ) , from Proto-West Germanic *saipā , from Proto-Germanic *saipǭ , from Proto-Indo-European *seyb- , *seyp- ( “ to pour out, drip, trickle, strain ” ) .
Cognate with Scots saip , sape ( “ soap ” ) , Saterland Frisian Seepe ( “ soap ” ) , West Frisian sjippe ( “ soap ” ) , Dutch zeep ( “ soap ” ) , German Low German Seep ( “ soap ” ) , German Seife ( “ soap ” ) , Danish sæbe ( “ soap ” ) , Swedish såpa ( “ soap ” ) , Norwegian Bokmål såpe ( “ soap ” ) , Norwegian Nynorsk såpe ( “ soap ” ) , Faroese sápa ( “ soap ” ) , Icelandic sápa ( “ soap ” ) , Finnish saippua ( “ soap ” ) , Finnish suopa ( “ soft soap ” ) . Related also to Old English sāp ( “ amber, resin, pomade, unguent ” ) , Latin sēbum ( “ tallow, fat, grease ” ) . See seep . Latin sāpō ( “ soap ” ) is a borrowing from the Germanic.
Noun
soap (countable and uncountable , plural soaps )
( chemistry ) A metallic salt derived from a fatty acid , commonly used in cleaning products.
( countable , uncountable , informal , by extension, mineralogy ) Some other substance, often a detergent or another surfactant , able to mix with both oil and water, used for cleaning.
I tried washing my hands with soap , but the stain wouldn't go away.
( slang ) Money , specially when used as a bribe .
( countable , informal ) A soap opera .
( countable ) A solid masonry unit or brick reduced in depth or height from standard dimensions.
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
substance
Abkhaz: асапын ( asapʼən )
Acehnese: sabôn
Adyghe: сабын ( sabən )
Afrikaans: seep (af)
Aklanon: habon
Albanian: sapun (sq) m
Aleut: miilax̂
Amharic: ሳሙና ( samuna )
Arabic: صَابُون m ( ṣābūn )
Egyptian Arabic: صابونة f ( ṣabūna ) , صابون m pl ( ṣabūn )
Aramaic:
Classical Syriac: ܨܦܘܢܐ m ( ṣappōnā )
Armenian: օճառ (hy) ( ōčaṙ ) , ( colloquial ) սապոն (hy) ( sapon )
Aromanian: sãpuni f , sãpune f
Assamese: চাবোন ( sabün )
Asturian: xabón (ast) m
Avar: сапун ( sapun )
Azerbaijani: sabun (az)
Bashkir: һабын ( habın )
Basque: xaboi
Belarusian: мы́ла n ( mýla )
Bengali: সাবান (bn) ( śaban )
Breton: saon , soavon (br)
Bulgarian: сапу́н (bg) m ( sapún )
Burmese: ဆပ်ပြာ (my) ( hcappra )
Buryat: мылэ ( myle ) , сабан ( saban )
Carpathian Rusyn: мы́дло n ( mŷ́dlo )
Catalan: sabó (ca) m
Chamicuro: shawona
Chechen: саба ( saba )
Cherokee: ᎣᎳ ( ola ) , ᎣᏝ ( otla )
Chichewa: sopo
Chinese:
Cantonese: 番鹼 / 番碱 ( faan1 gaan2 ) , 番梘 / 番枧 (yue) ( faan1 gaan2 )
Dungan: йизы ( yizɨ )
Eastern Min: 胰皂 ( ì-cô̤ )
Gan: 肥皂 ( 'fi4 cau5 ) , 洋鹼 / 洋碱 ( iong4 'gan3 )
Hainanese: (please verify ) 差文 ( sa1 vun6 , sa2 vun6 )
Hakka: 茶箍 ( chhà-kû ) , 番鹼 / 番碱 ( fân-kién, fân-kián ) , 石鹼 / 石碱 ( sa̍k-kién ) , 番鹼 / 番碱
Hokkien: 雪文 ( sat-bûn, sap-bûn, sap-mûi ) , 茶箍 (zh-min-nan) ( tê-kho͘ ) ( Taiwan ) , 油胰 ( iû-i ) ( Kinmen )
Jin: 肥皂 ( fei1 zau3 ) , 胰子 ( i1 zeh )
Mandarin: 肥皂 (zh) ( féizào ) , 胰子 (zh) ( yízi ) ( dialectal )
Northern Min: 胰仔 ( ǐ-ciě )
Teochew: 餅藥 / 饼药 , 饼药 ( pian2 ioh8 , pian2 iêh8 )
Wu: 肥皂 ( 6 bi-zau)
Xiang: 肥皂 ( fei2 zau5 ) , 胰子油 ( i2 zr iou2 ) ( dated )
Chukchi: муԓемуԓ ( muḷemuḷ )
Chuvash: супӑнь ( sup̬ănʹ )
Crimean Tatar: sabun
Czech: mýdlo (cs) n
Dalmatian: sapaun m
Danish: sæbe (da) c
Dargwa: сапун ( sapun )
Dhivehi: ސައިބޯނި ( saibōni )
Dutch: zeep (nl) f
Elfdalian: twål m
Erzya: сапонь ( sapoń )
Esperanto: sapo (eo)
Estonian: seep (et)
Faroese: sápa f
Finnish: saippua (fi)
French: savon (fr) m
Friulian: savon m
Gagauz: sabun
Galician: xabón (gl) m , xabrón (gl) m
Georgian: საპონი (ka) ( saṗoni )
German: Seife (de) f
Greek: σαπούνι (el) n ( sapoúni )
Ancient: σμῆμα n ( smêma ) , σμῆγμα n ( smêgma ) , ῥύμμα n ( rhúmma ) , ( Koine ) σάπων m ( sápōn )
Greenlandic: qaqorsaat
Gujarati: સાબુ m ( sābu ) , સોપ m ( sop ) , સાબૂન m ( sābūn )
Hausa: sabulu
Hawaiian: kopa
Hebrew: סבון \ סַבּוֹן (he) m ( sabón ) , בּוֹרִית (he) f ( borít ) ( archaic )
Hindi: साबुन (hi) m ( sābun )
Hungarian: szappan (hu)
Hunsrik: Seif f
Icelandic: sápa (is) f
Ido: sapono (io)
Indonesian: sabun (id)
Ingush: сапа ( sapa )
Interlingua: sapon
Inuktitut: ᐃᕐᒥᐅᑦ ( irmiot )
Irish: gallúnach f , sópa m
Old Irish: gallúinech
Italian: sapone (it) m
Japanese: 石鹸 (ja) ( せっけん, sekken ) , シャボン (ja) ( shabon )
Jarai: ia čơƀu
Kabardian: сабын (kbd) ( sabən )
Kalmyk: савң ( savñ )
Kannada: ಸಾಬೂನು (kn) ( sābūnu )
Karachay-Balkar: сапын ( sapın )
Karakalpak: sabın
Karelian: saippu , muilu
Kashubian: mëdło n
Kazakh: сабын ( sabyn )
Khakas: сабын ( sabın )
Khmer: សាប៊ូ (km) ( saabuu )
Komi-Permyak: майтöг ( majtög )
Korean: 비누 (ko) ( binu ) , 석감(石鹼) ( seokgam )
Kumyk: сапун ( sapun )
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: سابون ( sabun )
Northern Kurdish: sabûn (ku) f
Kyrgyz: самын (ky) ( samın )
Ladino: shavón m , שאבון m
Lao: ສະບູ່ (lo) ( sa bū )
Latin: sāpō m
Latvian: ziepes f pl
Lezgi: запун ( zapun )
Lithuanian: muilas (lt) m
Lombard: savon , savun
Low German:
German Low German: Seep f
Lun Bawang: sabun
Luxembourgish: Seef (lb) f
Macedonian: сапун (mk) m ( sapun )
Maguindanao: sabun
Malagasy: savony (mg)
Malay: sabun (ms)
Malayalam: സോപ്പ് (ml) ( sōppŭ )
Maltese: sapuna (mt) f
Manx: sheeabin m
Maori: hopi
Maranao: sabon
Marathi: साबण ( sābaṇ )
Mari:
Eastern Mari: шовын ( šovyn )
Middle English: sope
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: саван (mn) ( savan )
Mongolian: ᠰᠠᠪᠤᠩ ( sabung )
Nahuatl: āmōlli
Nanai: мэлэ ( mele )
Navajo: táláwosh
Nepali: सावुन ( sāwuna )
Nogai: сабын ( sabın )
Norman: savon m ( Jersey )
Northern Sami: sáibbo , sáibu
Norwegian:
Bokmål: såpe (no) m or f
Nynorsk: såpe f
Occitan: sabon (oc) m
Odia: ସାବୁନ ( sābuna )
Old English: sāpe f
Old High German: seipfa f , seiffa f , seifa f
Oromo: saamunaa
Osage: wépukxa
Ossetian: сапон ( sapon )
Ottoman Turkish: صابون ( sabun )
Papiamentu: habon
Pashto: سابون (ps) m ( sābūn )
Persian:
Dari: صَابُون ( sābūn )
Iranian Persian: صابون (fa) ( sâbun )
Piedmontese: savon m
Plautdietsch: Seep f
Polish: mydło (pl) n
Portuguese: sabão (pt) m , sabonete (pt) m (bath soap)
Punjabi: ਸਾਬਣ (pa) ( sābaṇ )
Rakhine: သပုန် ( sa.pum )
Rohingya: sabon
Romagnol: savôn m
Romanian: săpun (ro) n
Romansch: savun , savung , savùn
Russian: мы́ло (ru) n ( mýlo )
Sanskrit: फेनक (sa) n ( phenaka )
Sardinian: sabone , saboni , saoni , sapone
Saterland Frisian: Seepe f
Scottish Gaelic: siabann m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: са̀пӯн m
Roman: sàpūn (sh) m
Seychellois Creole: savon
Shan: သပ်ႉပျႃႇ ( sâ̰p pjàa )
Shor: сабын ( sabın )
Sicilian: sapuni (scn) m
Sinhalese: සබන් ( saban )
Slovak: mydlo (sk) n
Slovene: milo (sl) n
Somali: saabuun
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: mydło n
Upper Sorbian: mydło n
Sotho: sesepa
Southern Altai: самын ( samïn )
Southern Ohlone: hawun
Spanish: jabón (es) m , sopín m ( Louisiana )
Swahili: sabuni (sw)
Swedish: tvål (sv) c , såpa (sv) c
Tabasaran: сябун ( sjabun )
Tagalog: sabon
Tai Dam: ꪎꪱꪡ꫁ꪮꪉ
Tajik: собун (tg) ( sobun )
Tamil: சோப்பு (ta) ( cōppu )
Tatar: сабын (tt) ( sabın )
Telugu: సబ్బు (te) ( sabbu )
Tetum: sabaun
Thai: สบู่ (th) ( sà-bùu )
Tigrinya: ሳሙና ( samuna )
Tongan: koa
Tumbuka: sopo
Turkish: sabun (tr)
Turkmen: sabyn
Tuvan: саваң ( savañ )
Udmurt: майтал ( majtal )
Ukrainian: ми́ло n ( mýlo )
Urdu: صابُن m ( sābun )
Uyghur: سوپۇن ( sopun )
Uzbek: sovun (uz)
Venetan: saon (vec) m , savon
Vietnamese: xà phòng (vi) , xà bông (vi)
Vilamovian: zaof f
Volapük: sob (vo)
Welsh: sebon (cy) m
Western Bukidnon Manobo: savun
Wolof: saabu (wo)
Yakut: мыыла ( mııla )
Yami: siken
Yiddish: זייף f or n ( zeyf )
Yoruba: ọṣẹ
Zhuang: yangzgenj , genj
See also
References
Verb
soap (third-person singular simple present soaps , present participle soaping , simple past and past participle soaped )
( transitive ) To apply soap to in washing.
Be sure to soap yourself well before rinsing.
( transitive , informal ) To cover, lather, or in any other manner treat with soap, often as a prank.
Those kids soaped my windows!
( transitive , informal ) To be discreet about (a topic).
Synonyms: soft-soap , soft-pedal , sugar soap , downplay
( slang , dated ) To flatter ; to wheedle .
Derived terms
Translations
apply soap in washing / cover with soap as a prank
See also
Etymology 2
Probably an abbreviation of sodium pentothal .
Noun
soap (uncountable )
( slang ) thiopental (sodium pentothal )
2013 , John Gardner, James Bond: The John Gardner Years :'Time? Doesn't have much meaning when they're trying to dry you out. I rather think they gave me a shot of soap at one point.' Soap is intelligence speak for sodium pentathol.
Anagrams
AOPs , AOSP , OAPs , OSAP , PAOs , Paos , Paso , SOPA , Sapo , poas , sapo-
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from English soap . Doublet of zeep .
Pronunciation
Noun
soap f (plural soaps , diminutive soapje n )
soap opera
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English soap .
Pronunciation
Noun
soap m (plural soaps )
soap opera
Anagrams