soap

See also: Soap and SOAP

English

Bars 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”), Danish sæbe (“soap”), Dutch zeep (“soap”), German Low German Seep (“soap”), German Seife (“soap”), Norwegian Bokmål såpe (“soap”), Norwegian Nynorsk såpe (“soap”), Swedish såpa (“soap”), Faroese sápa (“soap”), Icelandic sápa (“soap”), Hindi साबुन (sābun, “soap”), Spanish jabón (“soap”). Related also to Old English sāp (“amber, resin, pomade, unguent”), Latin sēbum (“tallow, fat, grease”) and sāpō (“soap”). See seep.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /soʊp/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /səʊp/

• 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. (chemistry) a metallic salt derived from a fatty acid
3. a flattery or excessively complacent conversation
4. (slang) money, specially when used for bribing purposes
5. (countable, informal) A soap opera.

Derived terms

• dish soap
• hand soap
• laundry soap
• liquid soap
• metallic soap
• no soap
• soap dish
• soap foam
• soap opera
• soap ring
• soap suds
• soapwood
• soapy
• soft soap

 

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: sopo
• Tok Pisin: sop
• → Bemba: isopo
• → Burmese: ဆပ်ပြာ (hcappra)
  • → Shan: သပ်ႉပျႃႇ (sâ̰p pjàa)
• → Chichewa: sopo
• → Dutch: soap
• → French: soap
• → German: Soap
• → Irish: sópa
• → Malayalam: സോപ്പ് (sōppŭ)
• → Maori: hopi
• → Marshallese: joob
• → Northern Sotho: sesepe
• → Pohnpeian: sohpw
• → Shona: sipo
• → Sotho: sesepa
• → Swazi: sesepa
• → Tamil: சோப்பு (cōppu)

Translations

substance

• Abkhaz: асапын (āsāṗən)
• Adyghe: сабын (sābən)
• Afrikaans: seep (af)
• Albanian: sapun (sq) m
• Amharic: ሳሙና (samuna)
• Arabic: صَابُون‎ m (ṣābūn)

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

• Armenian: օճառ (hy) (ōčaṙ), (colloquial) սապոն (hy) (sapon)
• Aromanian: sãpuni f, sãpune f
• Assamese: চাবোন (sabün)
• Asturian: xabón m
• Azerbaijani: sabun (az)
• Bashkir: һабын (habïn)
• Basque: xaboi
• Belarusian: мы́ла n (mýla)
• Bengali: সাবান (saban)
• Breton: saon, soavon
• Bulgarian: сапу̀н (bg) m (sapùn)
• Burmese: ဆပ်ပြာ (my) (hcappra)
• Buryat: саван (savan)
• Catalan: sabó (ca) m
• Chamicuro: shawona
• Chechen: саба (saba)
• Cherokee: ᎣᎳ (ola)
• Chichewa: sopo
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 番鹼, 番碱, 番梘, 番枧 (faan¹ gaan²)

  Hakka: 茶箍 (chhà-kû), 番鹼, 番碱 (fân-kién, fân-kián), 石鹼, 石碱 (sa̍k-kién)

  Mandarin: 肥皂 (zh) (féizào)

  Min Nan: 雪文 (sat-bûn, sap-bûn, sap-mûi), 茶箍 (zh-min-nan) (tê-kho͘) (Taiwan), 油胰 (iû-i) (Kinmen)

  Hainanese: 差文 (sa1 vun6, sa2 vun6)

  Teochew: 餅藥, 饼药 (pian2 ioh8, pian2 iêh8)

• Chukchi: муԓемуԓ (muḷemuḷ)
• Chuvash: супӑнь (supănʹ)
• 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 (saponʹ)
• 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: σάπων m (sápōn), σμῆγμα n (smêgma)

• Greenlandic: qaqorsaat
• Gujarati: સાબુ (sābu)
• Hausa: sabulu
• Hebrew: סבון \ סַבּוֹן‎ (he) m (sabón)
• Hindi: साबुन (hi) m (sābun)
• Hungarian: szappan (hu)
• Icelandic: sápa (is) f
• Ido: sapono (io)
• Indonesian: sabun (id)
• Ingush: сапа (sapa)
• Interlingua: sapon
• Inuktitut: ᐃᕐᒥᐅᑦ (irmiut)
• 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)
• Kabardian: сабын (sābən)
• Kalmyk: савң (savñ)
• Kannada: ಸಾಬೂನು (kn) (sābūnu)
• Karachay-Balkar: сапын (sapın)
• Karakalpak: sabın
• Kashubian: mëdło n
• Kazakh: сабын (kk) (sabın)
• Khakas: сабын (sabın)
• Khmer: សាប៊ូ (km) (saabuu)
• Komi-Permyak: майтöг (majtög)
• Korean: 비누 (ko) (binu)
• Kumyk: сапун (sapun)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: sabûn (ku) f

  Sorani: سابون‎ (sAboon)

• Kyrgyz: самын (ky) (samın)
• Ladino: shavón m, שאבון‎ m

• Lao: ສະບູ່ (lo) (sa bū)
• Latin: sāpō m
• Latvian: ziepes f pl
• Lithuanian: muilas (lt) m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Seep f

• Lun Bawang: sabun
• Luxembourgish: Seef (lb) f
• Macedonian: сапун m (sapun)
• Malagasy: savony (mg)
• Malay: sabun (ms)
• Malayalam: സോപ്പ് (ml) (sōppŭ)
• Maltese: sapuna (mt) f
• Manx: sheeabin m
• Maori: hopi
• Marathi: साबण (sābaṇ)
• Middle English: sope
• Mongolian: саван (mn) (savan)
• Nahuatl: āmōlli
• Navajo: táláwosh
• Nepali: सावुन (sāvun)
• Nogai: сабын (sabın)
• Norman: savon m (Jersey)
• Northern Sami: sáibbo, sáibu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: såpe (no) m, f

  Nynorsk: såpe f

• Novial: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: sabon (oc) m
• Old English: sāpe f
• Old High German: seipfa f, seiffa f, seifa f
• Oriya: ସାବୁନ (sabunô)
• Osage: wépukxa
• Ossetian: са́пон (sápon)
• Pashto: سابون‎ (ps) m (sābūn)
• Persian: صابون‎ (fa) (sâbun)
• Polish: mydło (pl) n
• Portuguese: sabão (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਸਾਬਣ (pa) (sābṇ)
• Romanian: săpun (ro) n
• Romansch: savun, savung, savùn
• Russian: мы́ло (ru) n (mýlo)
• Samoan: moli (sm)
• Sanskrit: फेनक (sa) n (phenaka)
• Sardinian: sabone, saboni, saoni, sapone
• Saterland Frisian: Seepe f
• Scottish Gaelic: siabann m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сапун m

  Roman: sapun (sh) m

• Shan: သပ်ႉပျႃႇ (sâ̰p pjàa)
• Shor: сабын (sabın)
• Sicilian: sapuni (scn) m
• Sinhalese: සබන් (saban)
• Slovak: mydlo (sk) n
• Slovene: milo (sl) n
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: mydło n

  Upper Sorbian: mydło n

• Sotho: sesepa
• Southern Altai: самын (samın)
• Spanish: jabón (es) m
• Swahili: sabuni (sw)
• Swedish: tvål (sv) c, såpa (sv) c
• Tagalog: sabon
• Tajik: собун (tg) (sobun)
• Tamil: சோப்பு (ta) (cōppu)
• Tatar: сабын (tt) (sabın)
• Telugu: సబ్బు (te) (sabbu)
• Thai: สบู่ (th) (sà-bùu)
• Tigrinya: ሳሙና (samuna)
• Turkish: sabun (tr)
• Turkmen: sabyn
• Tuvan: саваң (savaŋ)
• Udmurt: майтал (majtal)
• Ukrainian: ми́ло n (mýlo)
• Urdu: صابن‎ m (sābun)
• Uzbek: sovun (uz)
• Venetian: saon (vec) m, savon
• Vietnamese: xà phòng (vi)
• Vilamovian: zaof f
• Volapük: sob (vo)
• Welsh: sebon (cy) m
• Yakut: мыыла (mııla)
• Yami: siken
• Yiddish: זייף‎ f, n (zeyf)
• Yoruba: ọṣẹ
• Zhuang: yangzgenj, genj

soap opera — see soap opera

See also

• body wash
• shampoo
• shower gel
• wash-ball

References

• The Free Dictionary definitions from various other dictionaries

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, lather or in any other form treat with soap, often 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 (hy) (ōčaṙvel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: namydlit, mydlit
• Esperanto: sapumi
• Finnish: saippuoida (fi)
• French: savonner (fr), (reflexive) se savonner
• Galician: enxaboar (gl)
• German: einseifen (de)
• Greek: σαπουνίζω (el) (sapounízo)

  Ancient: σμήχω (smḗkhō)

• Hiligaynon: habon
• Hungarian: szappanoz (hu)

• Italian: insaponare (it), (reflexive) insaponarsi
• Latvian: ziepēt (ieziepēt, saziepēt)
• Lun Bawang: nabun
• Polish: mydlić
• Portuguese: ensaboar (pt)
• Romanian: săpuni (ro)
• Russian: мы́лить (ru) impf (mýlitʹ), намы́лить (ru) pf (namýlitʹ)
• Spanish: enjabonar (es), (reflexive) enjabonarse (es)
• Swahili: sabuni (sw)
• Swedish: tvåla in
• Tagalog: sabon
• Venetian: insaonar (vec)

cover with soap as a prank

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: saippuoida (fi)

• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Swahili: sabuni (sw)

Related terms

• soaper
• saponification

See also

• soap on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• AOSP, OAPs, OSAP, Paos, Paso, SOPA, Sapo, poas, sapo-

---

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English soap.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

soap f (plural soaps, diminutive soapje n)

1. soap opera, soap

Anagrams

• opa's

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from English soap.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sop/

Noun

soap m (plural soaps)

1. soap opera, soap

Anagrams

• posa