US /soʊp/ UK /səʊp/
noun verb name Freq #3786

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    A substance used with water for washing and cleaning the body or things.

    Wash your hands with soap and warm water.

  2. 2
    verb

    To rub soap onto something while washing it.

    He soaped his hands carefully before rinsing them.

Thesaurus

Word family
Forms soapedsoapingsoaps
Derived forms docusoaphandsoapnonsoapresoapsandsoapsoap-dodgingsoap-operaticsoapballsoapbarksoapberrysoapbloomsoapbox
Related forms saponificationshampoosoaperwash-ball

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *seyb-? Proto-Germanic *saipǭ Proto-West Germanic *saipā Old English sāpe Middle English sope English soap From Middle English sope, sape, from Old English sāpe (“soap, salve”), from Proto-West Germanic *saipā, from Proto-Germanic *saipǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *seyb-, *seyp- (“to pour out, drip, trickle, strain”). Cognate with Scots saip, sape (“soap”), Saterland Frisian Seepe (“soap”), West Frisian sjippe (“soap”), Dutch zeep (“soap”), German Low German Seep (“soap”), German Seife (“soap”), Danish sæbe (“soap”), Swedish såpa (“soap”), Norwegian Bokmål såp…

View etymology graph ->

Topics

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