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

Noun

soap (countable and uncountable; plural soaps)

(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.
(countable, informal) A soap opera.

Derived terms

terms derived from soap (noun)

Translations

substance

Abkhaz: асапын (ab) (asapyn)
Afrikaans: seep (af)
Albanian: sapun (sq)
Arabic: صابون (ar) (ṣābūn) m
Egyptian Arabic: صابونة (ṣabūna) f, صابون (ṣabūn) m pl
Armenian: օճառ (hy) (òč̣aṙ) , (colloquial) սապոն (hy) (sapon)
Aromanian: sãpune (rup)
Azeri: sabun (az)
Bashkir: һабын (habïn)
Basque: xaboi (eu)
Belarusian: мыла (be) (mýla) n
Bengali: সাবান (bn) (saban)
Breton: saon (br), soavon (br)
Bulgarian: сапун (bg) (sapún) m
Burmese: ဆပ်ပြာ (my) (pyà)
Catalan: sabó (ca) m
Chamicuro: shawona
Chechen: саба (saba)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 肥皂 (cmn) (féizào)

Min Nan: 雪文 (nan) (sat-bûn) (Zhangzhou), 茶塊 (nan) (tê-kóe) (Quanzhou), 番梘 (nan) (huan1-giang3) (Chaozhou), 雪文 (nan) (Hainan)
Chuvash: супӑнь (supăń)
Crimean Tatar: sabun
Czech: mýdlo (cs) n
Dalmatian: sapaun m
Danish: sæbe (da)
Dutch: zeep (nl)
Esperanto: sapo (eo)
Estonian: seep (et)
Faroese: sápa (fo) f
Finnish: saippua (fi)
French: savon (fr) m
Friulian: savon m
Gagauz: sabun
Galician: xabón (gl) m
Georgian: საპონი (ka) (saponi)
German: Seife (de) f
Greek:
Ancient: σάπων (sapon) m

Modern: σαπούνι (el) (sapoúni) n
Gujarati: સાબુ (gu) (sābu)
Hebrew: סבון (he) (sabon) m
Hindi: साबुन (hi) (sābun)
Hungarian: szappan (hu)
Icelandic: sápa (is)
Ido: sapono (io)
Indonesian: sabun (id)
Inuktitut: ᐃᕐᒥᐅᑦ (iu)
Italian: sapone (it) m
Japanese: 石鹸 (ja) (せっけん, sekken), シャボン (ja) (shabon)
Jèrriais: savon m
Kalmyk: савң (savng)
Kannada: ಸಾಬೂನು (kn) (sābūnu)
Karachay-Balkar: сапын (sapın)
Karakalpak: sabın
Kashubian: mëdło (csb) n
Kazakh: сабын (kk) (sabın)
Khakas: сабын (sabın)
Khmer: សាប៊ូ (km) (sāpū)
Korean: 비누 (ko) (binu)
Kumyk: сапун (sapun)
Kurdish:
Kurmanji: sabûn (ku) f

Sorani: سابون (ku) (sAboon)
Kyrgyz: самын (ky) (samın)
Lao: ສະບູ່ (lo) (sa bū)
Latin: sapo (la)

Latvian: ziepes (lv) f pl
Lithuanian: muilas (lt) m
Lojban: zbabu (jbo)
Lower Sorbian: mydło n
Luxembourgish: Seef (lb) f
Macedonian: сапун (mk) (sápun) m
Malagasy: savony (mg)
Malay: sabun (ms)
Malayalam: സോപ്പ് (ml) (sēāpp)
Maltese: sapuna (mt) f
Maori: hopi (mi)
Marathi: साबण (mr) (sābaṇ)
Middle English: sope
Mongolian: саван (mn) (savan)
Nahuatl: āmōlli (nah)
Nepali: सावुन (ne) (sāvun)
Nogai: сабын (sabın)
Northern Sami: sáibbo, sáibu
Norwegian: såpe (no), såpa (no)
Occitan: sabon (oc)
Old English: sāpe (ang) f
Old High German: seipfa f, seiffa f, seifa f
Oriya: ସାବୁନ (or) (sābun)
Ossetian: сапон (sápon)
Persian: صابون (fa) (sâbun)
Polish: mydło (pl) n
Portuguese: sabão (pt) m
Punjabi: ਸਾਬਣ (pa) (sābaṇ)
Romanian: săpun (ro) n
Romansch: savun (rm), savung (rm), savùn (rm)
Russia Buryat: саван (savan)
Russian: мыло (ru) (mýlo) n
Samoan: moli (sm)
Sanskrit: फेनकम् (sa) (phenakam)
Sardinian: sabone (sc), saboni (sc), saoni (sc), sapone (sc)
Scottish Gaelic: siabann (gd) m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: сапун (sh) m

Roman: sapun (sh) m
Shor: сабын (sabın)
Sicilian: sapuni (scn) m
Sinhalese: සබන් (si) (saban)
Slovak: mydlo (sk) n
Slovene: milo (sl) n
Sotho: sesepa (st)
Southern Altai: самын (samın)
Spanish: jabón (es) m
Swahili: sabuni (sw)
Swedish: tvål (sv) c
Tagalog: sabon (tl)
Tajik: собун (tg) (sobun)
Tamil: சோப்பு (ta) (cōppu)
Tatar: сабын (tt) (sabın)
Telugu: సబ్బు (te) (sabbu)
Thai: สบู่ (th) (sabu)
Turkish: sabun (tr)
Turkmen: sabyn (tk)
Tuvan: саваң (savañ)
Ukrainian: мило (uk) (mýlo) n
Upper Sorbian: mydło (hsb) n
Urdu: صابن (ur) (sābun)
Uzbek: sovun (uz)
Venetian: saon, savon
Vietnamese: xà phòng (vi)
Volapük: sob (vo)
Welsh: sebon (cy)
Yakut: мыыла (mııla)
Yiddish: זייף (yi) (zeyf) f and n

soap opera — see soap opera

Verb

soap (third-person singular simple present soaps, present participle soaping, simple past and past participle soaped)

(transitive) To apply soap to in washing.
Be sure to soap yourself well before rinsing.
(transitive, informal) To cover with soap as a prank.
Those kids soaped my windows!
(transitive, informal) To be discreet about (a topic).
(slang, dated) To flatter; to wheedle.