salt

See also: Salt, SALT, sâlt, sålt, and -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 Doublet of sal, ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it superseded as the general term for "salt".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/

  • Audio (UK); /sɔːlt/:

    (file)

  • Audio (UK); /sɔːlt/:

    (file)

• (US) enPR: sôlt, IPA^(key): /sɔlt/
  • (cot–caught merger) enPR: sält, IPA^(key): /sɑlt/, [sɑɫt], [sɑɫʔ]

    • Audio (US, cot-caught merger):

      (file)

• (New Zealand) enPR: sŏlt, IPA^(key): /sɔlt/, [sɔɯ̯t]
• Rhymes: -ɒlt, -ɔːlt

Salt crystals

Noun

salt (countable and uncountable, plural salts)

2. 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^[1], 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.

4. (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.
5. (uncommon, countable) A salt marsh, a saline marsh at the shore of a sea.
6. (slang, countable) 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.

7. (cryptography) A sequence of random data added to plain text data (such as passwords or messages) prior to encryption or hashing, in order to make brute force decryption more difficult.
8. A person who seeks employment at a company in order to (once employed by it) help unionize it.
9. (obsolete, uncountable) 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.

10. (obsolete, uncountable) Piquancy; wit; sense.

    Attic salt

11. (obsolete, countable) 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.

12. (historical, in the plural) Epsom salts or other salt used as a medicine.
13. (figurative, uncountable) 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.

15. (Internet slang, uncountable) Tears; indignation; outrage; arguing.

    There was so much salt in that thread about the poor casting decision.

16. (UK, historical, uncountable) The money demanded by Eton schoolboys during the montem.

Synonyms

• sal (obsolete)

Derived terms

• add salt to injury
• antisalt
• besalted
• bisalt
• blacksalter
• bread and salt
• desalt
• hydrosalt
• lay salt on someone's tail
• nonsalt
• oversalt
• oxysalt
• persalt
• polysalt
• protosalt
• resalt
• saltbox
• saltbush
• saltcat
• salt cave
• saltery
• saltfish
• saltfoot
• Saltford
• salt-free
• saltfree
• saltgrass
• saltie
• saltine
• saltish
• saltless
• saltlike
• saltly
• saltmaker
• saltmaking
• salt marsh elder
• saltmouth
• salt myrtle
• salt-myrtle
• saltproof
• salt stick
• saltweed
• saltwork
• saltworker
• saltworks
• saltwort
• salty
• sesquisalt
• subsalt
• sulfosalt
• sulphosalt
• supersalt
• take bread and salt

 

Compound words and expressions

• 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
• Magnus' green 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

Related terms

• salary
• salad

Descendants

• Bislama: sol
• Tok Pisin: sol

Translations

See salt/translations § Noun.

Adjective

salt (comparative more salt, superlative most salt)

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Of land, fields etc.: flooded by the sea.

   a salt marsh

4. Of plants: growing in the sea or on land flooded by the sea.

   salt grass

5. Related to salt deposits, excavation, processing or use.

   a salt mine

   The salt factory is a key connecting element in the seawater infrastructure.

6. (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 […] .

7. (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^[2], 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 […]

8. (colloquial, archaic) Costly; expensive.

Derived terms

• saltness
• salt spray

Translations

salty

• Aymara: jayuk'ara, jayuni
• Azerbaijani: duzlu (az)
• Catalan: salat
• Czech: slaný (cs)
• Danish: salt (da)
• Dutch: zout (nl), zoutig (nl), gezouten (nl)
• Estonian: soolane (et)
• Faroese: saltur
• Finnish: suolainen (fi)
• French: salé (fr)
• Galician: salgado (gl)
• German: salzig (de)
• Greek: αλμυρός (el) m (almyrós)
• Hawaiian: pa’akai
• Hungarian: sós (hu)
• Icelandic: saltur
• Italian: salato (it)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: سوێر (swêr), خوێواو (xwêwaw)

• Latvian: sāļš
• Macedonian: солен (solen)
• Maori: mātaitai, tote (mi)
• Mon: ၜဵု (mnw), ဍာ်ပဏုင်
• Mopan Maya: ch'ooch'
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: salt (no), saltet

  Nynorsk: salt, salta

• Old English: sealt
• Polish: słony (pl)
• Portuguese: salgado (pt)
• Punjabi: ਨਮਕੀਨ (namkīn)
• Romanian: sărat (ro)
• Russian: солёный (ru) (soljónyj)
• Slovene: slan (sl)
• Spanish: salado (es)
• Swahili: chumvi (sw)
• Swedish: salt (sv)
• Tausug: maasin

saline

• Catalan: salí (ca)
• Czech: solný (cs) m
• Danish: saltholdig (da)
• Dutch: zout (nl) n, zout- (nl) n
• Estonian: soolane (et), soola-
• Faroese: saltkendur
• Finnish: suolainen (fi), suola- (fi)
• French: salin (fr)
• Galician: salino (gl)
• Greek: αλατούχος (el) m (alatoúchos), αλατώδης (el) m (alatódis)
• Italian: salino (it)
• Macedonian: солен (solen)
• Maori: kurutai, kurutaitai
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: saltholdig (no)

  Nynorsk: salthaldig

• Polish: słony (pl)
• Portuguese: salino (pt)
• Russian: солево́й (ru) (solevój), соляно́й (ru) (soljanój)
• Spanish: salino (es)
• Swahili: chumvi (sw)
• Swedish: salthaltig (sv)

related to salt deposits, excavation, processing or use

• Catalan: salí (ca)
• Finnish: suola-
• Russian: солево́й (ru) (solevój), соляно́й (ru) (soljanój)
• Spanish: salinero

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} salzig (de)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} asin (id)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} salate
• Old English: ^{(please verify)} sealt
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} sărat (ro) m, ^{(please verify)} sărată f
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} slaný (sk)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} ఉప్పగా (uppagā), ^{(please verify)} ఉప్పటి (uppaṭi)

Verb

salt (third-person singular simple present salts, present participle salting, simple past and past participle salted)

1. (transitive) To add salt to.

   to salt fish, beef, or pork; to salt the city streets in the winter

2. (intransitive) To deposit salt as a saline solution.

   The brine begins to salt.

3. (nautical, of a ship) To fill with salt between the timbers and planks for the preservation of the timber.
4. 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.
      • 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.

5. (transitive) To sprinkle throughout.
   • 1976 December 11, Ronnie Allen, “No Political Eunuch”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 24, page 4:

     The Libertarians wish we had won the Vietnamese War, they would like to revoke civil rights legislation, they believe (even though they are supposedly anti-state) in a stronger Pentagon. They are salted with Nixonites, Young Americans for Freedom, John Birchers, Reaganites — in other words the old Joe McCarthy gang again. I thought they had left us, or reformed, or taken up knitting.

   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.

6. (cryptography) To add filler bytes before encrypting, in order to make brute-force decryption more resource-intensive.
7. To render a thing useless.
   1. (military, transitive) To sow with salt (of land), symbolizing a curse on its re-inhabitation.

      In this place were put to the ground and salted the houses of José Mascarenhas.

   2. (wiki jargon) To lock a page title so it cannot be created.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “add salt”): desalt

Derived terms

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

Translations

to add salt to

• Arabic: مَلَّحَ (mallaḥa)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Aromanian: ãnsar, nsar
• Azerbaijani: duzlamaq (az)
• Bavarian: sålzn, soizn
• Belarusian: салі́ць impf (salícʹ), пасалі́ць pf (pasalícʹ)
• Catalan: salar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 加鹽／加盐 (gaa¹ jim⁴), 落鹽／落盐 (lok⁶ jim⁴)

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: solit (cs), osolit
• Danish: salte (da)
• Dutch: zouten (nl)
• Esperanto: sali
• Estonian: soolama
• Faroese: salta
• Finnish: suolata (fi)
• French: saler (fr)
• Friulian: salâ
• Galician: salgar (gl), salpresar
• Georgian: დამარილება (damarileba)
• German: salzen (de)
• Greek: αλατίζω (el) (alatízo)

  Ancient: ἁλίζω (halízō)

• Hebrew: המליח (he) (himlíakh)
• Hungarian: sóz (hu)
• Icelandic: salta (is)
• Ido: salizar (io)
• Ingrian: soolata
• Irish: saill, cuir salann ar
• Italian: salare (it)
• Japanese: 塩漬けにする (shio-zuke ni suru)
• Kazakh: тұздау (tūzdau)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Kyrgyz: туздоо (ky) (tuzdoo)
• Latin: salio
• Latvian: sālīt
• Lithuanian: sūdyti, pasūdyti
• Macedonian: соли (soli), посоли (posoli), засоли (zasoli)
• Maori: tote (mi), whakatote
• Norman: saler (Jersey)
• Norwegian: salte (no)
• Occitan: salar (oc)
• Old English: sieltan
• Papiamentu: sala
• Piedmontese: salé
• Polish: solić (pl), posolić (pl)
• Portuguese: salgar (pt)
• Romanian: săra (ro)
• Romansch: ensalar, ansalar, saler, insaler, salar
• Russian: соли́ть (ru) impf (solítʹ), посоли́ть (ru) pf (posolítʹ)
• Sardinian: salire, saliri
• Scottish Gaelic: (for preservation) saill
• Sicilian: salari
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Slovene: soliti
• Spanish: salar (es)
• Swahili: chumvi (sw)
• Swedish: salta (sv)
• Turkish: tuzlamak (tr)
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: halltu (cy), dodi halen ar
• Yiddish: זאַלצן (zaltsn)
• Zazaki: solnaene

to add something into an object

• Finnish: terästää (fi)

to include colorful language

• Danish: krydre (da)
• Dutch: kleuren (nl)
• Finnish: maustaa (fi), höystää (fi)
• French: épicer (fr)
• Swedish: krydda (sv)

to add filler bytes before encryption

• Finnish: suolata (fi)
• Swahili: chumvi (sw)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Old English: ^{(please verify)} sealtan, ^{(please verify)} sieltan
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ^{(please verify)} солити, ^{(please verify)} посолити

  Roman: ^{(please verify)} soliti (sh), ^{(please verify)} posoliti (sh)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin saltus.

Noun

salt (plural salts)

1. (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;

Anagrams

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

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan salt, from Latin saltus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈsal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈsalt]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

salt m (plural salts)

1. jump
2. 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

1. salt
   • 1562, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq:

     Salt. Sal.

Czech

Noun

salt

1. 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

1. salty, salt

Inflection

Inflection of salt

	positive	comparative	superlative
indefinite 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]

Noun

salt n (singular definite saltet, plural indefinite salte)

1. salt

Inflection

Declension of salt

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	salt	saltet	salte	saltene
genitive	salts	saltets	saltes	saltenes

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

salt

1. imperative of salte

Related terms

• salte
• mineralsalt

Faroese

salt

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)

1. salt

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.

Adjective

salt

1. salty

Declension

Declension of salt (a21)
Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	saltur	sølt	salt
Accusative	saltan	salta	salt
Dative	søltum	saltari	søltum
Genitive	salts	saltar/ saltrar	salts
Plural	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	saltir	saltar	sølt
Accusative	saltar	saltar	sølt
Dative	søltum	søltum	søltum
Genitive	salta saltra	salta saltra	salta saltra

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin saltus.

Noun

salt m (plural salts)

1. jump, leap, spring

Related terms

• saltâ

Gothic

Romanization

salt

1. Romanization of 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐍄

Icelandic

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sal̥t/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al̥t

Noun

salt n (genitive singular salts, nominative plural sölt)

1. salt

   Geturðu rétt mér saltið?

   Can you pass me the salt?

Declension

Declension of salt (neuter)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	salt	saltið	sölt	söltin
accusative	salt	saltið	sölt	söltin
dative	salti	saltinu	söltum	söltunum
genitive	salts	saltsins	salta	saltanna

Derived terms

• salta
• saltstaukur
• saltsýra
• vega salt

Adjective

salt

1. positive degree neuter singular nominative/accusative of saltur

Latvian

Etymology

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

Verb

salt (intransitive, 1st conjugation, present salstu, salsti, salst, past salu)

1. to freeze

Conjugation

conjugation of salt

	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

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)

1. salt (sodium chloride)
2. Something containing or for storing salt
3. 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)

1. salty, tasting of salt
2. 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

Etymology 1

From Old Norse saltr.

Adjective

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

1. salty, salt, salted

   salte peanøtter - salted peanuts

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.

Noun

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

1. salt

Etymology 3

Verb

salt

1. imperative of salte

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/

Etymology 1

From Old Norse saltr.

Adjective

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

1. 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)

1. salt

Derived terms

• bordsalt
• havsalt
• salte (verb)
• saltkrystall
• saltlake
• saltsyre
• sjøsalt

References

• “salt” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse salt.

Noun

salt n

1. salt

Descendants

• Danish: salt

Etymology 2

From Old Norse saltr.

Adjective

salt

1. salty, salt

Descendants

• Danish: salt

Old Frisian

Etymology

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

Noun

salt n

1. salt

Inflection

Declension of salt (neuter a-stem)
	singular	plural
nominative	salt	salt
genitive	saltes	salta
dative	salte	saltum, saltem
accusative	salt	salt

Descendants

• North Frisian: saalt
• Saterland Frisian: Soalt, Saalt (Skäddel, Strukelje)
• West Frisian: sâlt

Adjective

salt

1. salty, salted

Descendants

• West Frisian: sâlt

Old Norse

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *saltą.

Noun

salt n

1. salt

Declension

  Declension of salt (strong a-stem)

neuter	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	salt	saltit	sǫlt	sǫltin
accusative	salt	saltit	sǫlt	sǫltin
dative	salti	saltinu	sǫltum	sǫltunum
genitive	salts	saltsins	salta	saltanna

Related terms

• salta (“to salt”)
• saltr (“salty”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: salt
• Faroese: salt
• Norn: salt
• Norwegian Nynorsk: salt
• Norwegian Bokmål: salt
• Old Swedish: salt
  • Swedish: salt
• Old Danish: salt
  • Danish: salt

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

salt

1. 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

1. salt

Declension

Declension of salt (strong a-stem)

neuter	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	salt	saltit	salt	saltin
accusative	salt	saltit	salt	saltin
dative	salti, salte	saltinu, salteno	saltum, saltom	saltumin, saltomen
genitive	salts	saltsins	salta	saltanna

Descendants

• Swedish: salt c

Romanian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin saltus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsalt/

Noun

salt n (plural salturi)

1. leap
2. saltation

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	salt	saltul		salturi	salturile
genitive-dative	salt	saltului		salturi	salturilor
vocative	saltule			salturilor

Related terms

• sălta
• săltare
• săltat
• săltăreț
• săltător
• săltătură

Verb

salt

1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of sălta

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

salt (comparative saltare, superlative saltast)

1. salty

   Antonym: (of water) söt

   Soppan är för salt

   The soup is too salty

Declension

Inflection of salt

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	salt	saltare	saltast
neuter singular	salt	saltare	saltast
plural	salta	saltare	saltast
masculine plural2	salte	saltare	saltast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	salte	saltare	saltaste
all	salta	saltare	saltaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

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

1. 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

Declension of salt

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	salt	salts
	definite	saltet	saltets
plural	indefinite	salter	salters
	definite	salterna	salternas

Synonyms

• bordssalt

Derived terms

• bergsalt
• havssalt
• medelhavssalt
• saltkar
• saltlake
• saltkristall
• saltströare
• saltstänkt
• saltsyra
• strö salt i såren (“rub salt in the wounds”)
• ta med en nypa salt (“take with a grain of salt”)
• vägsalt

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

Tagalog

Etymology

Semantic loan from English as in, via an unadapted borrowing from English salt, which is a calque of Tagalog asin, due to homophony with English as in.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈsolt/ [ˈsolt̪]
• Rhymes: -olt

Interjection

salt (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜓᜎ᜔ᜆ᜔) (slang, dated)

1. mild intensifier: literally

   Ang init ng araw, salt pare!

   The sun is so hot, as in [HOT] bro!

Usage notes

• Usually used by younger generations, such as millennials and Gen Z, belonging to upper social classes, such as those proficient in both Taglish and Conyo, especially around Metro Manila.

Turkish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saɫt/

Adverb

salt

1. exclusively, only, just, absolute

   salt çoğunluk

   absolute majority

Synonyms

• bir
• sadece
• sırf
• tek
• yalnız
• (absolute) mutlak

Related terms

• salmak

Further reading

• “salt”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu