English Online Dictionary. What means soul? What does soul mean?
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English soule, sowle, saule, sawle, from Old English sāwol (“soul, life, spirit, being”), from Proto-West Germanic *saiwalu, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō (“soul”), of uncertain ultimate origin (see there for further information). Cognate with Scots saul, sowel (“soul”), North Frisian siel, sial (“soul”), Saterland Frisian Seele (“soul”), West Frisian siel (“soul”), Dutch ziel (“soul”), German Seele (“soul”) Scandinavian homonyms seem to have been borrowed from Old Saxon *siala. Modern Danish sjæl, Swedish själ, Norwegian sjel, Icelandic sál, Finnish sielu may have come from Old English sāwol.
Alternative forms
- sowl (archaic)
- soule (obsolete)
Pronunciation
- enPR: sōl
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /səʊl/, [sɔʊɫ], [sɒʊɫ]
- (General American) IPA(key): /soʊl/
- (Canada) IPA(key): [so̞ːɫ]
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /səʉl/, /sɐʉl/
- (New Zealand) IPA(key): /sɐʉl/
- Rhymes: -əʊl
- Homophones: Seoul, sole, sowl
Noun
soul (countable and uncountable, plural souls)
- (religion, folklore) The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality, often believed to live on after the person's death.
- 1836, Hans Christian Andersen (translated into English by Mrs. H. B. Paull in 1872), The Little Mermaid
- "Among the daughters of the air," answered one of them. "A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her eternal destiny. But the daughters of the air, although they do not possess an immortal soul, can, by their good deeds, procure one for themselves.
- 1836, Hans Christian Andersen (translated into English by Mrs. H. B. Paull in 1872), The Little Mermaid
- The spirit or essence of anything.
- Life, energy, vigor.
- (music) Soul music.
- A person, especially as one among many.
- 18 January 1915, D. H. Lawrence, letter to William Hopkin
- I want to gather together about twenty souls and sail away from this world of war and squalor and found a little colony where there shall be no money but a sort of communism as far as necessaries of life go, and some real decency.
- 18 January 1915, D. H. Lawrence, letter to William Hopkin
- An individual life.
- (mathematics) A kind of submanifold involved in the soul theorem of Riemannian geometry.
Quotations
For quotations using this term, see Citations:soul.
Synonyms
- (spirit or essence of anything): crux, gist; See also Thesaurus:gist
- (a person): See also Thesaurus:person
Derived terms
English terms starting with “soul”
Related terms
- mind
- spirit
Descendants
Translations
Verb
soul (third-person singular simple present souls, present participle souling, simple past and past participle souled)
- (obsolete, transitive) To endow with a soul or mind.
- Synonyms: besoul, ensoul
- To beg on All Soul's Day.
- Coordinate term: trick-or-treat
Derived terms
- besoul
- dark night of the soul
Etymology 2
Borrowed from French souler (“to satiate”).
Verb
soul (third-person singular simple present souls, present participle souling, simple past and past participle souled)
- (obsolete) To feed or nourish.
References
- “soul”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- soul in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
- William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “soul”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
Anagrams
- Luso-, luso-
Czech
Noun
soul m inan
- soul (music style)
Declension
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
Further reading
- “soul”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
Finnish
Etymology
Borrowed from English soul.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsou̯l/, [ˈs̠o̞u̯l]
- Rhymes: -oul
- Syllabification(key): soul
- Hyphenation(key): soul
Noun
soul
- soul music
Declension
Derived terms
Further reading
- “soul”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 3 July 2023
Anagrams
- Sulo, solu, sulo, ulos
Franco-Provençal
Adjective
soul (Piemontais)
- alternative form of sol (“alone”)
References
- soul in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu
French
Etymology 1
See saoul.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /su/
- Homophones: sou, souls, sous
Adjective
soul (feminine soule, masculine plural souls, feminine plural soules)
- post-1990 spelling of soûl, itself an alternative form of saoul (“drunk”)
Derived terms
- souler
Etymology 2
Borrowed from English soul.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /sol/, /sul/
Noun
soul f (uncountable)
- soul, soul music
Further reading
- “soul”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Hungarian
Etymology
Borrowed from English soul.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈsoːl] (phonetic respelling: szól)
- Hyphenation: soul
- Homophone: szól
- Rhymes: -oːl
Noun
soul (usually uncountable, plural soulok)
- (music) soul music
Declension
Derived terms
- soulzene
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from English soul.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsol/, (careful style) /ˈsowl/
- Rhymes: -ol, (careful style) -owl
- Hyphenation: (careful style) sóul
Noun
soul m or f (invariable)
- soul music
References
Anagrams
- suol
Middle English
Noun
soul
- alternative form of soule
Old French
Adjective
soul m (oblique and nominative feminine singular soule)
- alternative form of sol
Declension
Polish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English soul, from Middle English soule, sowle, saule, sawle, from Old English sāwol, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwalu, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsɔwl/
- Rhymes: -ɔwl
- Syllabification: soul
Noun
soul m inan
- soul music
Declension
Derived terms
Further reading
- soul in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- soul in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English soul.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /sow/
- Homophone: sou (when pronounced with the /w/)
Noun
soul m (uncountable)
- (music) soul music (a music genre combining gospel music, rhythm and blues and often jazz)
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from English soul.
Adjective
soul m or f or n (indeclinable)
- soul (music)
Declension
Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from English soul.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsoul/ [ˈsou̯l]
- Rhymes: -oul
- Syllabification: soul
Noun
soul m (uncountable)
- soul, soul music
Further reading
- “soul”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024