salt
English
Etymology 1
PIE word |
---|
*séh₂ls |
From Middle English salt, from Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂ls (“salt”). Doublet of sal, ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it superseded as the general term for "salt".
Pronunciation
- (UK) enPR: sŏlt, sôlt, IPA(key): /sɒlt/, /sɔːlt/
- (US) enPR: sôlt, IPA(key): /sɔlt/
- (cot–caught merger) enPR: sält, IPA(key): /sɑlt/, [sɑɫt], [sɑɫʔ]
- (New Zealand) enPR: sŏlt, IPA(key): /sɔlt/, [sɔɯ̯t]
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒlt, -ɔːlt
Noun
salt (countable and uncountable, plural salts)
- A common substance, chemically consisting mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl), used extensively as a condiment and preservative.
- 1430, Thomas Austin, editor, Two Fifteenth-century Cookery-books. Harleian ms. 279 (ab. 1430), & Harl. ms. 4016 (ab. 1450), with Extracts from Ashmole ms. 1429, Laud ms. 553, & Douce ms. 55 (Early English Text Society, Original Series; 91), volume 1, London: Routledge; N. Trübner & Co., published 1888, →OCLC, page 11:
- Take gode almaunde mylke y-draw wyth wyn, an let hem boyle to-gederys, an caste þer-to Safroun an Salt; […]
- Take good almond milk made with wine, and let it boil together, and add thereto Saffron and Salt; […]
- 1880, Arthur Herbert Church, Food: Some Account of Its Sources, Constituents and Uses, London: Chapman and Hall, page 24:
- Common salt, chloride of sodium, appears to be essential to the life of the higher animals.
- 2013, Bear Grylls, True Grit: the Epic True Stories of Heroism and Survival That Have Shaped My Life, →ISBN, page 9:
- Nando was pierced with grief, but he didn't allow himself to cry. Tears, he knew, would cost his body salt. Without salt, you die.
- (chemistry) One of the compounds formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, where a positive ion replaces a hydrogen of the acid.
- (uncommon) A salt marsh, a saline marsh at the shore of a sea.
- (slang) A sailor (also old salt).
- 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter:
- Around the door are generally to be seen, laughing and gossiping, clusters of old salts.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 1”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
- I never go as a passenger; nor, though I am something of a salt, do I ever go to sea as a Commodore, or a Captain, or a Cook.
- (cryptography) Randomly chosen bytes added to a plaintext message prior to encrypting or hashing it, in order to render brute-force decryption more difficult.
- A person who seeks employment at a company in order to (once employed by it) help unionize it.
- (obsolete) Flavour; taste; seasoning.
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
- Though we are justices and doctors and churchmen […] we have some salt of our youth in us.
- (obsolete) Piquancy; wit; sense.
- Attic salt
- (obsolete) A dish for salt at table; a salt cellar.
- 1664 September 19 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “September 9th, 1664”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume IV, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1894, →OCLC:
- I out and bought some things; among others, a dozen of silver salts.
- (historical, in the plural) Epsom salts or other salt used as a medicine.
- (figurative) Skepticism and common sense.
- Any politician's statements must be taken with a grain of salt, but his need to be taken with a whole shaker of salt.
- (Internet slang) Tears; indignation; outrage; arguing.
- There was so much salt in that thread about the poor casting decision.
- (UK, historical) The money demanded by Eton schoolboys during the montem.
- One who joins a workplace for the purpose of unionizing it.
Synonyms
- sal (obsolete)
Derived terms
- above the salt
- acid of salt
- amphid salt
- Attic salt
- baker's salt
- bath salt
- bay salt
- below the salt
- bile salt
- bronzing salt
- butter salt
- cat-salt
- celery salt
- chicken salt
- common salt
- covenant of salt
- diazonium salt
- dishwasher salt
- double salt
- dry-salt
- Epsom salt(s)
- essential salt
- flake salt
- Frémy's salt
- fruit salt
- garlic salt
- Glaser's salt
- Glauber's salt
- Great Salt Lake
- green salt
- green salt of Magnus
- hair salt
- hair-salt
- hartshorn salt
- hei hei salt
- Himalayan salt
- horse salt
- inner salt
- koshering salt
- kosher salt
- Meerwein's salt
- microcosmic salt
- mineral salt
- mixed salt
- Monsel's salt
- not worth salt
- organic salt
- pepper-and-salt
- pinch of salt
- pink salt
- please pass the salt
- polychrest salt
- pound salt
- pre-salt layer
- prunella salt
- put salt on someone's tail
- road salt
- Rochelle salt
- rock salt
- rub salt in someone's wounds
- rub salt in the wound
- salt acid
- salt-and-pepper
- salt and pepper
- salt beef
- salt bottom
- salt box
- salt bridge
- salt cake
- salt cedar
- salt-cellar
- saltcellar
- salt chuck
- salt clay
- salt cod
- Salt Creek
- salt dome
- salt dough
- salt-effect distillation
- salt flat
- salt garden
- salt glacier
- salt gland
- salt glaze
- salt grass
- salt-green
- salt hay
- salt horse
- salt in the wound
- salt junk
- salt lake → Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County
- salt lick
- salt line
- salt marsh
- salt-marsh caterpillar
- salt marsh hay
- salt-marsh terrapin
- salt meat
- salt mine
- salt of amber
- salt of colcothar
- salt of hartshorn
- salt of lemon
- salt of Saturn
- salt of soda
- salt of sorrel
- salt of tartar
- salt of the earth
- salt of tin
- salt of Venus
- salt of vitriol
- salt of wormwood
- salt out
- salt pan
- salt pig
- salt pork
- salt rheum
- salt-rising bread
- Salt River
- salt sea, Salt Sea
- salt sedative
- salt shaker
- salt spoon
- saltspoon
- salt spray test
- salt substitute
- salt the mine
- salt tree
- salt truck
- salt-water
- salt water
- saltwater
- salt water taffy
- salt wedge
- salt works
- Schlippe's salt
- sea salt
- sedative salt
- sell salt to a slug
- smelling salt
- spirit of salt
- spirits of salt
- sulfur salt
- sulphur salt
- syntactic salt
- table salt
- take with a pinch of salt
- throw salt
- Tutton's salt
- white salt
- with all the salt in the Dead Sea
- worth one's salt
- worth one's weight in salt
Translations
Adjective
salt (comparative more salt, superlative most salt)
- Of water: containing salt, saline.
- 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 97:
- After a few days of north-west wind, the waters of the Gordon will be found salt for twelve miles up from the bar.
- Treated with salt as a preservative; cured with salt, salted.
- salt beef
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- Philander went into the next room […] and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm.
- Of land, fields etc.: flooded by the sea.
- a salt marsh
- Of plants: growing in the sea or on land flooded by the sea.
- salt grass
- Related to salt deposits, excavation, processing or use.
- a salt mine
- The salt factory is a key connecting element in the seawater infrastructure.
- (figurative, obsolete) Bitter; sharp; pungent.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
- I have a salt and sorry rheum offends me […] .
- (figurative, obsolete) Salacious; lecherous; lustful; (of animals) in heat.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
- It is impossible you should see this, / Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys, / As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross / As ignorance made drunk.
- 1653, Thomas Urquhart, transl., The First Book of the works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, Book 2, Chapter 22, p. 153:
- And when he saw that all the dogs were flocking about her, yarring at the retardment of their accesse to her, and every way keeping such a coyle with her, as they are wont to do about a proud or salt bitch, he forthwith departed […]
- (colloquial, archaic) Costly; expensive.
Derived terms
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Verb
salt (third-person singular simple present salts, present participle salting, simple past and past participle salted)
- (transitive) To add salt to.
- to salt fish, beef, or pork; to salt the city streets in the winter
- (intransitive) To deposit salt as a saline solution.
- The brine begins to salt.
- (nautical, of a ship) To fill with salt between the timbers and planks for the preservation of the timber.
- To insert or inject something into an object to give it properties it would not naturally have.
- (mining) To blast metal into (as a portion of a mine) in order to cause to appear to be a productive seam.
- (archaeology) To add bogus evidence to an archaeological site.
- (transitive) To add certain chemical elements to (a nuclear or conventional weapon) so that it generates more radiation.
- 1964, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, page 417:
- The composition of the fallout can also be changed by "salting" the weapon to be detonated. This consists in the inclusion of significant quantities of certain elements, possibly enriched in specific isotopes, for the purpose of producing induced radioactivity. There are several reasons why a weapon might be salted.
- (transitive) To sprinkle throughout.
- They salted the document with arcane language.
- 1993, The Journal of Jewish Thought & Philosophy, page 154:
- These were pamphlets, often written in various Jewish vernaculars, describing the location of the Holy sites and salting the accounts with mythic and homiletical materials.
- (cryptography) To add filler bytes before encrypting, in order to make brute-force decryption more resource-intensive.
- To render a thing useless.
Antonyms
- (antonym(s) of “add salt”): desalt
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
salt (plural salts)
- (obsolete) A bounding; a leaping; a prance.
- 1616, Ben Jonson, The Devil Is an Ass, in Gifford’s 1816 edition volume V page 67
- […] he hath the skill to draw
Their nectar forth, with kissing; and could make
More wanton salts from this brave promontory,
Down to this valley, than the nimble roe;
- 1616, Ben Jonson, The Devil Is an Ass, in Gifford’s 1816 edition volume V page 67
Crimean Gothic
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂l-.
Czech
Danish
Etymology 1
From Old Norse saltr (“salt”), from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls, *sáls.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /salˀd/, [sælˀd̥], [sælˀt]
Inflection
Inflection of salt | |||
---|---|---|---|
Positive | Comparative | Superlative | |
Indefinte common singular | salt | saltere | saltest2 |
Indefinite neuter singular | salt | saltere | saltest2 |
Plural | salte | saltere | saltest2 |
Definite attributive1 | salte | saltere | salteste |
1) When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite, the corresponding "indefinite" form is used. 2) The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively. |
Etymology 2
From Old Norse salt (akin to Old Saxon salt, Old High German salz, Old Dutch salt, Old English sealt), from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls. Compare Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish salt.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /salˀt/, [sæ̝lˀt]
Inflection
Etymology 3
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Related terms
Faroese
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [sal̥t]
Etymology 1
From Old Norse salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls, *sáls.
Declension
Declension of salt | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
n5 | singular | plural | ||
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | salt | saltið | sølt | søltini |
accusative | salt | saltið | sølt | søltini |
dative | salti | saltinum | søltum | søltunum |
genitive | salts | saltsins | salta | saltanna |
Related terms
- pipar
- edikur
- sinnopur
- olivinolja
- epli
- pannukøka
- rosina
- sukur
- drúvusukur
- vaniljusukur
- súltusukur
- siropur
Etymology 2
From Old Norse saltr (“salt”), from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls, *sáls.
Declension
saltur a21 | |||
Singular (eintal) | m (kallkyn) | f (kvennkyn) | n (hvørkikyn) |
Nominative (hvørfall) | saltur | sølt | salt |
Accusative (hvønnfall) | saltan | salta | |
Dative (hvørjumfall) | søltum | saltari | søltum |
Genitive (hvørsfall) | (salts) | (saltar/ saltrar) |
(salts) |
Plural (fleirtal) | m (kallkyn) | f (kvennkyn) | n (hvørkikyn) |
Nominative (hvørfall) | saltir | saltar | sølt |
Accusative (hvønnfall) | saltar | ||
Dative (hvørjumfall) | søltum | ||
Genitive (hvørsfall) | (salta saltra) |
Friulian
Related terms
Gothic
Icelandic
Etymology
From Old Norse salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls, *sáls.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sal̥t/
listen (file) - Rhymes: -al̥t
Noun
salt n (genitive singular salts, nominative plural sölt)
- salt
- Geturðu rétt mér saltið?
- Can you pass me the salt?
Declension
Latvian
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“cold; hot”). Cognates include Lithuanian šálti.
Conjugation
INDICATIVE (īstenības izteiksme) | IMPERATIVE (pavēles izteiksme) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Present (tagadne) |
Past (pagātne) |
Future (nākotne) | |||
1st pers. sg. | es | salstu | salu | salšu | — |
2nd pers. sg. | tu | salsti | sali | salsi | salsti |
3rd pers. sg. | viņš, viņa | salst | sala | sals | lai salst |
1st pers. pl. | mēs | salstam | salām | salsim | salsim |
2nd pers. pl. | jūs | salstat | salāt | salsiet, salsit |
salstiet |
3rd pers. pl. | viņi, viņas | salst | sala | sals | lai salst |
RENARRATIVE (atstāstījuma izteiksme) | PARTICIPLES (divdabji) | ||||
Present | salstot | Present Active 1 (Adj.) | salstošs | ||
Past | esot salis | Present Active 2 (Adv.) | saldams | ||
Future | salšot | Present Active 3 (Adv.) | salstot | ||
Imperative | lai salstot | Present Active 4 (Obj.) | salstam | ||
CONDITIONAL (vēlējuma izteiksme) | Past Active | salis | |||
Present | saltu | Present Passive | salstams | ||
Past | būtu salis | Past Passive | salts | ||
DEBITIVE (vajadzības izteiksme) | NOMINAL FORMS | ||||
Indicative | (būt) jāsalst | Infinitive (nenoteiksme) | salt | ||
Conjunctive 1 | esot jāsalst | Negative Infinitive | nesalt | ||
Conjunctive 2 | jāsalstot | Verbal noun | salšana |
Middle English
Etymology
From Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą (noun) and Proto-Germanic *saltaz (adjective).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /salt/
- (Southern, Kent) IPA(key): /zalt/, /zɛlt/
- (late) IPA(key): /sau̯lt/
Noun
salt (uncountable)
- salt (sodium chloride)
- Something containing or for storing salt
- Any of a group of crystalline compounds that resemble salt
References
- “salt, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-08.
Adjective
salt (plural and weak singular salte, comparative salter, superlative saltest)
- salty, tasting of salt
- salted, coated in salt
References
- “salt, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-08.
Norwegian Bokmål
Adjective
salt (neuter singular salt, definite singular and plural salte, comparative saltere, indefinite superlative saltest, definite superlative salteste)
Etymology 2
From Old Norse salt (akin to Old Saxon salt, Old High German salz, Old Dutch salt, Old English sealt), from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls. Compare Danish, Swedish and Icelandic salt.
Derived terms
- bordsalt
- havsalt
- salte (verb)
- saltholdig
- saltinnhold
- saltkrystall
- saltlake
- saltsyre
- saltvann
- sjøsalt
- veisalt
References
- “salt” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sɑlt/
Adjective
salt (neuter singular salt, definite singular and plural salte, comparative saltare, indefinite superlative saltast, definite superlative saltaste)
Etymology 2
From Old Norse salt (akin to Old Saxon salt, Old High German salz, Old Dutch salt, Old English sealt), from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls.
References
- “salt” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old Frisian
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *saltą (“salt”), *saltaz (“salty, salted”).
Inflection
Declension of salt (neuter a-stem) | ||
---|---|---|
singular | plural | |
nominative | salt | salt |
genitive | saltes | salta |
dative | salte | saltum, saltem |
accusative | salt | salt |
Descendants
- West Frisian: sâlt
Old Norse
Etymology 1
From Proto-Germanic *saltą.
Declension
Descendants
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
References
- “salt”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Romanian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsalt/
Declension
Swedish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /salt/
audio (file)
Etymology 1
From Old Swedish salter, from Old Norse saltr, from Proto-Germanic *saltaz, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls, *sáls.
Adjective
Declension
Inflection of salt | |||
---|---|---|---|
Indefinite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative2 |
Common singular | salt | saltare | saltast |
Neuter singular | salt | saltare | saltast |
Plural | salta | saltare | saltast |
Masculine plural3 | salte | saltare | saltast |
Definite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
Masculine singular1 | salte | saltare | saltaste |
All | salta | saltare | saltaste |
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic |
Etymology 2
From Old Swedish salt, from Old Norse salt (akin to Old Saxon salt, Old High German salz, Old Dutch salt, Old English sealt), from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls. Compare Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian salt.
Noun
salt n
- salt
- (uncountable) sodium chloride (NaCl), used extensively as a condiment and preservative.
- (chemistry) One of the compounds formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, where a positive ion replaces a hydrogen of the acid.
Declension
Declension of salt | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | salt | saltet | salter | salterna |
Genitive | salts | saltets | salters | salternas |
Synonyms
Derived terms
- bergsalt
- havssalt
- medelhavssalt
- saltlake
- saltkristall
- saltstänkt
- saltsyra
- strö salt i såren (“rub salt in the wounds”)
- ta med en nypa salt (“take with a grain of salt”)
- vägsalt
References
Tagalog
Etymology
Borrowed from English salt, which is the English word equivalent for Tagalog asin, which is then homophonic with English as in.
Pronunciation
- (Standard Tagalog) IPA(key): /ˈsolt/ [ˈsolt]
- Rhymes: -olt
Interjection
salt (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜓᜎ᜔ᜆ᜔) (slang, dated)
- mild intensifier: literally
- Ang init ng araw, salt pare!
- The sun is so hot, as in [HOT] bro!
Usage notes
- Mostly used by young people belonging in the social upper class especially in Manila.
Turkish
Etymology
From Proto-Turkic *sal- (“to unleash”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /saɫt/
Related terms
Further reading
- “salt”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu