soil

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Definitions (68)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (16)

  1. noun The top layer of the earth's surface, consisting of rock and mineral particles mixed with organic matter.
  2. noun A particular kind of earth or ground: sandy soil.
  3. noun Country; land: native soil.
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

earth ·  sand ·  material ·  plant ·  grass ·  land ·  dust ·  rock ·  wood ·  surface ·  clay ·  water

Used in the same contextWord Family

soil:   soils ·  soiled
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (11)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, a piece of ground (influenced in meaning by Latin solum, soil), from Latin solium, seat; see sed- in Indo-European roots.
  2. Middle English soilen, from Old French souiller, from Vulgar Latin *suculāre (from Late Latin suculus, diminutive of Latin sūs, pig; see sū- in Indo-European roots) or from souil, pigsty, wallow (from Latin solium, seat; see soil1).
  3. Origin unknown.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (8)

  1. Early modern English also soile, soyle; from Middle English soile. soyle, soylle, sule. soil, ground, earth; (a) from Old French sol, French sol = Provencal sol = Spanish suclo = Portuguese solo = Italian suolo, bottom, ground, soil, pavement, from Latin solum, the bottom, foundation, ground, soil, earth, land, the sole of the foot or of a shoe (see sole); the English form soil instead of *sole in this sense (‘soil, ground,’ etc.) being due to confusion with (b) Old French socl, suel, sueil, seuil, threshold, also area, place, F, seuil = Provencal sulh, from Middle Latin solium, soleum, threshold, from L, solum (see above); (c) Old French sole, soule = Spanish suela = Pg, sola = Old Italian suola, sola, Italian suola, sole of a shoe, soglia, threshold, from L, solea. a sole, sandal, sill, threshold, etc., Middle Latin also ground, joist, etc. (see sole); (d) Old French soil, souil, a miry place (see soil). The forms and senses of soil and sole-are much involved with other forms and senses.
  2. Early modern English also soyl, soyle; from Old French soil, souil, French souille, the mire in which a wild boar wallows, = Provencal solh, mire, prob, from Latin suillus, belonging to swine, from sus, swine, sow: see sow. Cf. soil v.
  3. Early modern English also soyle; from Middle English soilen, soillen, suilen, soulen, suylen, from Old French sollier, souiller, soil, refl (of a swine), take soil, wallow in the mire, French souiller, soil, sully, dirty, = Provencal sulhar, solar = Portuguese sujar = Old Italian sogliare, soil; from the noun soil: see soil. In another view, French souiller, soil, dirty, is from Latin suculare, wallow like a pig, from Late Latin suculus, a porker, dim, of sus, swine, sow, being thus from the same ult. source as above; so Provencal sulhar, soil, from sulha, a sow; cf. Spanish emporcar, soil, from Latin porcus. a pig. The relations of the forms here grouped under soil are somewhat uncertain. The word is not akin to sully.
  4. Early mod English also soyle; from soil, v. In def. 3 prob. now associated with soil, 3.
  5. A variant of saul (?), soul (?), from Old French saoler, later saouler, F. soúler, glut, cloy, fill, satiate, from Old French saol, saoul, French soûl = Pr, sadol—Italian satollo, full, satiated, from Latin satullus, dim, of satur, full, satiated; see sad, sate, satiate. Cf. soul, n.
  6. from Middle English soilen, by apheresis from assoil.
  7. Origin obscure (?).
  8. soil, n., 4.
 

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/sɔɪl/
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