soap

See also: Soap and SOAP

English

A bar of soap

Alternative forms

• sope (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sope, sape, from Old English sāpe (“soap, salve”), from Proto-Germanic *saipǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *seyb-, *seyp- (“to pour out, drip, trickle, strain”). Cognate with Scots saip, sape (“soap”), West Frisian sjippe (“soap”), Dutch zeep (“soap”), Low German sepe (“soap”), German Seife (“soap”), Swedish såpa (“soap”), Icelandic sápa (“soap”). Related also to Old English sāp (“amber, resin, pomade, unguent”), Latin sēbum (“tallow, fat, grease”). See seep.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊp

Noun

soap (countable and uncountable, plural soaps)

1. (uncountable) A substance able to mix with both oil and water, used for cleaning, often in the form of a solid bar or in liquid form, derived from fats or made synthetically.

   I tried washing my hands with soap, but the stain wouldn't go away.

2. (countable, informal) A soap opera.

Derived terms

terms derived from soap (noun)

dish soap hand soap laundry soap liquid soap no soap

soap dish soap opera soap ring soap suds soapwood soapy

See also

• body wash
• shampoo
• shower gel
• washball

Translations

substance

• Abkhaz: асапын (āsāṗən)
• Afrikaans: seep
• Albanian: sapun
• Arabic: صابون m (ṣābūn)

  Egyptian Arabic: صابونة f (ṣabūna), صابون m pl (ṣabūn)

• Armenian: օճառ (hy) (ōčaṙ), (colloquial) սապոն (sapon)
• Aromanian: sãpune
• Asturian: xabón m
• Azeri: sabun (az)
• Bashkir: һабын (habïn)
• Basque: xaboi
• Belarusian: мыла n (mýla)
• Bengali: সাবান (saban)
• Breton: saon, soavon
• Bulgarian: сапун (bg) m (sapún)
• Burmese: ဆပ်ပြာ (my) (pyà)
• Buryat: саван (savan)
• Catalan: sabó m
• Chamicuro: shawona
• Chechen: саба (saba)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 肥皂 (zh) (féizào)

  Min Nan: 雪文 (sat-bûn) (Zhangzhou), 茶塊 (tê-kóe) (Quanzhou), 番梘 (huan1-giang3) (Chaozhou), 雪文 (Hainan)

• Chuvash: супӑнь (supănʹ)
• Crimean Tatar: sabun
• Czech: mýdlo (cs) n
• Dalmatian: sapaun m
• Danish: sæbe (da)
• Dutch: zeep (nl)
• Esperanto: sapo (eo)
• Estonian: seep (et)
• Faroese: sápa f
• Finnish: saippua (fi)
• French: savon (fr) m
• Friulian: savon m
• Gagauz: sabun
• Galician: xabón m, xabrón (gl) m
• Georgian: საპონი (ka) (saponi)
• German: Seife (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: σάπων m (sapon)

  Modern: σαπούνι (el) n (sapoúni)

• Gujarati: સાબુ (sābu)
• Hebrew: סבון (he) m (sabon)
• Hindi: साबुन (sābun)
• Hungarian: szappan (hu)
• Icelandic: sápa (is)
• Ido: sapono (io)
• Indonesian: sabun (id)
• Inuktitut: ᐃᕐᒥᐅᑦ (irmiut)
• Italian: sapone (it) m
• Japanese: 石鹸 (ja) (せっけん, sekken), シャボン (ja) (shabon)
• Jèrriais: savon m
• Kalmyk: савң (savñ)
• Kannada: ಸಾಬೂನು (kn) (sābūnu)
• Karachay-Balkar: сапын (sapın)
• Karakalpak: sabın
• Kashubian: mëdło n
• Kazakh: сабын (sabın)
• Khakas: сабын (sabın)
• Khmer: សាប៊ូ (km) (sāpū)
• Korean: 비누 (ko) (binu)
• Kumyk: сапун (sapun)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: sabûn (ku) f

  Sorani: سابون (sAboon)

• Kyrgyz: самын (samın)
• Lao: ສະບູ່ (lo) (sa bū)

• Latin: sapo
• Latvian: ziepes f pl
• Lithuanian: muilas (lt) m
• Lojban: zbabu (jbo)
• Lower Sorbian: mydło n
• Luxembourgish: Seef (lb) f
• Macedonian: сапун m (sápun)
• Malagasy: savony (mg)
• Malay: sabun (ms)
• Malayalam: സോപ്പ് (ml) (sēāpp)
• Maltese: sapuna (mt) f
• Maori: hopi
• Marathi: साबण (sābaṇ)
• Middle English: sope
• Mongolian: саван (savan)
• Nahuatl: āmōlli
• Nepali: सावुन (sāvun)
• Nogai: сабын (sabın)
• Northern Sami: sáibbo, sáibu
• Norwegian: såpe (no), såpa
• Occitan: sabon (oc)
• Old English: sāpe f
• Old High German: seipfa f, seiffa f, seifa f
• Oriya: ସାବୁନ (sābun)
• Ossetian: сапон (sapon)
• Persian: صابون (fa) (sâbun)
• Polish: mydło (pl) n
• Portuguese: sabão (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਸਾਬਣ (sābaṇ)
• Romanian: săpun (ro) n
• Romansch: savun, savung, savùn
• Russian: мыло (ru) n (mýlo)
• Samoan: moli (sm)
• Sanskrit: फेनकम् (phenakam)
• Sardinian: sabone, saboni, saoni, sapone
• Scottish Gaelic: siabann m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сапун m

  Roman: sapun m

• Shor: сабын (sabın)
• Sicilian: sapuni (scn) m
• Sinhalese: සබන් (saban)
• Slovak: mydlo n
• Slovene: milo (sl) n
• Sotho: sesepa
• Southern Altai: самын (samın)
• Spanish: jabón (es) m
• Swahili: sabuni (sw)
• Swedish: tvål (sv) c
• Tagalog: sabon
• Tajik: собун (sobun)
• Tamil: சோப்பு (ta) (cōppu)
• Tatar: сабын (tt) (sabın)
• Telugu: సబ్బు (te) (sabbu)
• Thai: สบู่ (th) (sabu)
• Turkish: sabun (tr)
• Turkmen: sabyn
• Tuvan: саваң (savañ)
• Ukrainian: мило n (mýlo)
• Upper Sorbian: mydło n
• Urdu: صابن (sābun)
• Uzbek: sovun
• Venetian: saon, savon
• Vietnamese: xà phòng (vi)
• Volapük: sob (vo)
• Welsh: sebon (cy)
• Yakut: мыыла (mııla)
• Yiddish: זייף f, n (zeyf)

soap opera — see soap opera

Verb

soap (third-person singular simple present soaps, present participle soaping, simple past and past participle soaped)

1. (transitive) To apply soap to in washing.

   Be sure to soap yourself well before rinsing.

2. (transitive, informal) To cover with soap as a prank.

   Those kids soaped my windows!

3. (transitive, informal) To be discreet about (a topic).
4. (slang, dated) To flatter; to wheedle.

Synonyms

• (to be discreet about): soft soap, sugar soap, soft-pedal, downplay

Translations

apply soap in washing

• Armenian: օճառվել (ōčaṙvel)
• Czech: namydlit, mydlit
• Esperanto: sapumi
• Finnish: saippuoida
• French: savonner (fr), (reflexive) se savonner
• German: einseifen (de)
• Greek: σαπουνίζω (el) (sapounízo)
• Hiligaynon: habon
• Hungarian: szappanoz (hu)
• Italian: insaponare (it), (reflexive) insaponarsi

• Latvian: ziepēt (ieziepēt, saziepēt)
• Polish: mydlić
• Portuguese: ensaboar (pt)
• Romanian: săpuni (ro)
• Russian: мылить (ru) impf (mýlit’), намылить (ru) pf (namýlit’)
• Spanish: enjabonar, (reflexive) enjabonarse
• Swahili: sabuni (sw)
• Swedish: tvåla in
• Tagalog: sabon

cover with soap as a prank

• Finnish: saippuoida

• Swahili: sabuni (sw)

Related terms

• soaper
• saponification

See also

• soap on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• OAPs

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowing from English

Noun

soap f (plural soaps, diminutive soapje n)

1. soap opera, soap

Anagrams

• opa's

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French

Noun

soap m (plural soaps)

1. soap opera, soap

Anagrams

• posa