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

• (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) Short for soap opera.
6. (countable, informal) Short for soaper.

References

• The Free Dictionary definitions from various other dictionaries

Derived terms

Derived terms

• dish soap
• hand soap
• laundry soap
• liquid soap
• metallic soap

• no soap
• soft 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: мы́ла n (mýla)
• Bengali: সাবান (saban)
• Breton: saon, soavon
• Bulgarian: сапу̀н (bg) m (sapùn)
• Burmese: ဆပ်ပြာ (my) (hcappra)
• 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)
• Dhivehi: ސައިބޯނި (saibōni)
• Dutch: zeep (nl)
• 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 m, xabrón (gl) m
• Georgian: საპონი (ka) (saponi)
• German: Seife (de) f
• Greek: σαπούνι (el) n (sapoúni)

  Ancient: σάπων m (sápōn)

• Gujarati: સાબુ (sābu)
• Hebrew: סבון (he) m (sabon)
• Hindi: साबुन (sābun)
• Hungarian: szappan (hu)
• Icelandic: sápa (is)
• Ido: sapono (io)
• Indonesian: sabun (id)
• 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)
• 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)
• Lun Bawang: sabun
• Luxembourgish: Seef (lb) f
• Macedonian: сапун m (sapun)
• Malagasy: savony (mg)
• Malay: sabun (ms)
• Malayalam: സോപ്പ് (ml) (sōpp)
• Maltese: sapuna (mt) f
• Manx: sheeabin m
• Maori: hopi
• Marathi: साबण (sābaṇ)
• Middle English: sope
• Mongolian: саван (savan)
• Nahuatl: āmōlli
• Nepali: सावुन (sāvun)
• Nogai: сабын (sabın)
• Norman: savon m (Jersey)
• 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: са́пон (sápon)
• Persian: صابون (fa) (sâbun)
• Polish: mydło (pl) n
• Portuguese: sabão (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਸਾਬਣ (sābaṇ)
• Romanian: săpun (ro) n
• Romansch: savun, savung, savùn
• Russian: мы́ло (ru) n (mýlo)
• Samoan: moli (sm)
• Sanskrit: फेनक n (phenaka)
• Sardinian: sabone, saboni, saoni, sapone
• Scottish Gaelic: siabann m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сапун m

  Roman: sapun (sh) m

• Shor: сабын (sabın)
• Sicilian: sapuni (scn) m
• Sinhalese: සබන් (saban)
• Slovak: mydlo 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
• 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: ми́ло n (mýlo)
• 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, 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 (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)

• Lun Bawang: nabun
• Polish: mydlić
• Portuguese: ensaboar (pt)
• Romanian: săpuni (ro)
• Russian: мы́лить (ru) impf (mýlitʹ), намы́лить (ru) pf (namýlitʹ)
• 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

Etymology

Borrowing from English.

Noun

soap m (plural soaps)

1. soap opera, soap

Anagrams

• posa