salt

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of salt in English

English Online Dictionary. What means salt‎? What does salt mean?

English

Etymology 1

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 Doublet of sal, ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it superseded as the general term for "salt".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, IPA^(key): /sɒlt/
- (Conservative RP) enPR: sôlt, IPA^(key): /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]
Rhymes: (UK) -ɒlt, (Conservative RP, US, New Zealand) -ɔːlt, (cot-caught merger) -ɑlt

Noun

salt (countable and uncountable, plural salts)

A common substance, chemically consisting mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl), used extensively as a condiment and preservative.
- c. 1430 (reprinted 1888), Thomas Austin, ed., 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], London: N. Trübner & Co. for the Early English Text Society, volume I, OCLC 374760, page 11:
  Soupes dorye. — Take gode almaunde mylke […] caste þher-to Safroun an Salt […]
(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).
(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.
(obsolete) Piquancy; wit; sense.
Attic salt
(obsolete) A dish for salt at table; a salt cellar.
(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

Related terms

salary
salad

Descendants

Bislama: sol
Tok Pisin: sol

Translations

Adjective

salt (comparative more salt, superlative most salt)

Salty; salted.
Saline.
Related to salt deposits, excavation, processing or use.
(figurative, obsolete) Bitter; sharp; pungent.
(figurative, obsolete) Salacious; lecherous; lustful; (of animals) in heat.
- (Can we date this quote by Urquhart and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?) (translator), The First Book of the works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, Book 2, Chapter 22, p. 153,^[1]
  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

saltness
salt spray

Translations

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.
(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.
1. (mining) To blast metal into (as a portion of a mine) in order to cause to appear to be a productive seam.
2. (archaeology) To add bogus evidence to an archaeological site.
3. (transitive) To add certain chemical elements to (a nuclear or conventional weapon) so that it generates more radiation.
(transitive) To sprinkle throughout.
(cryptography) To add filler bytes before encrypting, in order to make brute-force decryption more resource-intensive.
To render a thing useless.
1. (military, transitive) To sow with salt (of land), symbolizing a curse on its re-inhabitation.
2. (wiki) To lock a page title so it cannot be created.

Antonyms

(add salt): desalt

Derived terms

desalt
salt away
salt down
salt out
salt the earth
salt up

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin saltus.

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

Anagrams

Alts, LTAs, TLAs, alts, last, lats, slat

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan salt, from Latin saltus.

Pronunciation

(Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈsalt/
(Central) IPA^(key): /ˈsal/

Noun

salt m (plural salts)

jump
waterfall

Derived terms

salt de perxa
saltiró

Related terms

saltar

References

“salt” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
“salt” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Crimean Gothic

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂l-.

Noun

salt

salt
- 1562, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq:
  Salt. Sal.

Czech

Noun

salt

genitive plural of salto

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse saltr (“salt”), from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls, *sáls.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /salˀd/, [sælˀd̥], [sælˀt]

Adjective

salt

salty, salt

Inflection

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]

Noun

salt n (singular definite saltet, plural indefinite salte)

salt

Inflection

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

salt

imperative of salte

Related terms

salte
mineralsalt

Faroese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [sal̥t]

Etymology 1

From Old Norse salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls, *sáls.

Noun

salt n (genitive singular salts, plural sølt)

salt

Declension

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.

Adjective

salt

salty

Declension

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin saltus.

Noun

salt m (plural salts)

jump, leap, spring

Related terms

saltâ

Gothic

Romanization

salt

Romanization of 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐍄

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls, *sáls.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sal̥t/
Rhymes: -al̥t

Noun

salt n (genitive singular salts, nominative plural sölt)

salt

Declension

Derived terms

salta
saltstaukur
saltsýra
vega salt

Adjective

salt

positive degree neuter singular nominative/accusative of saltur

Latvian

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“cold; hot”). Cognates include Lithuanian šálti.

Pronunciation

Verb

salt (intr., 1st conj., pres. salstu, salsti, salst, past salu)

to freeze

Conjugation

Middle English

Alternative forms

salte, scealte, selt, sealt, saulte, sawt, zalt

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

Related terms

salten
salthous

Descendants

English: salt
Scots: sawt, salt, saut
Yola: zall

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

Descendants

English: salt
Scots: sawt, salt, saut

References

“salt, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-08.

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Norse saltr.

Adjective

salt (neuter singular salt, definite singular and plural salte, comparative saltere, indefinite superlative saltest, definite superlative salteste)

salty, salt, salted
salte peanøtter - salted peanuts

Etymology 2

Noun

salt n (definite singular saltet, indefinite plural salter, definite plural salta or saltene)

salt

Etymology 3

Verb

salt

imperative of salte

Derived terms

References

“salt” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sɑlt/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse saltr.

Adjective

salt (neuter singular salt, definite singular and plural salte, comparative saltare, indefinite superlative saltast, definite superlative saltaste)

salty, salt, salted

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.

Noun

salt n (definite singular saltet, indefinite plural salt, definite plural salta)

salt

Derived terms

References

“salt” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse salt.

Noun

salt n

salt

Descendants

Danish: salt

Etymology 2

From Old Norse saltr.

Adjective

salt

salty, salt

Descendants

Danish: salt

Old Frisian

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *saltą (“salt”), *saltaz (“salty, salted”).

Noun

salt n

salt

Inflection

Descendants

North Frisian: saalt
Saterland Frisian: Soalt, Saalt
West Frisian: sâlt

Adjective

salt

salty, salted

Descendants

West Frisian: sâlt

Old Norse

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *saltą.

Noun

salt n

salt

Declension

Related terms

salta (“to salt”)
saltr (“salty”)

Descendants

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

salt

strong neuter nominative/accusative singular of saltr (“salty”)

References

“salt”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse salt.

Noun

salt n

salt

Declension

Descendants

Swedish: salt c

Romanian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin saltus.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsalt/

Noun

salt n (plural salturi)

leap
saltation

Declension

Related terms

sălta
săltare
săltat
săltăreț
săltător
săltătură

Verb

salt

first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of sălta

Swedish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /salt/

Etymology 1

From Old Swedish salter, from Old Norse saltr, from Proto-Germanic *saltaz, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂l-, *séh₂ls, *sáls.

Adjective

salt (comparative saltare, superlative saltast)

salty

Declension

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
1. (uncountable) sodium chloride (NaCl), used extensively as a condiment and preservative.
2. (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

Synonyms

bordssalt

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”)

Related terms

salta
sälta

References

salt in Svensk ordbok (SO)
salt in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
salt in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

last, lats, stal, tals

Turkish

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *sal- (“to unleash”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /saɫt/

Adverb

salt

exclusively, only, just, absolute

Synonyms

bir
sadece
sırf
tek
yalnız
(absolute) mutlak

Related terms

salmak