soil

pronunciation

How to pronounce soil in British English: UK [sɔɪl] word uk audio image

How to pronounce soil in American English: US [sɔɪl] word us audio image

Noun:

the state of being covered with unclean things
the part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock
material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use)
the geographical area under the jurisdiction of a sovereign state
Verb:

make soiled, filthy, or dirty

Word Origin

soil: soil: Soil ‘ground’ [14] and soil ‘make dirty’ [13] are distinct words. The former comes from Anglo-Norman soil ‘land’. This was the formal descendant of Latin solium ‘seat’, but its use for ‘land’ appears to have arisen from confusion with Latin solum ‘ground’. Etymologically, to soil something virtually amounts to making a pigsty of it. The verb comes via Old French souiller from Vulgar Latin *suculāre ‘make dirty’, a derivative of Latin suculus ‘little pig’. This was a diminutive form of sūs ‘pig’, a relative of English sow. French souiller may also be the source of English sully [16].=> sow, sully

soil (v.): early 13c., "to defile or pollute with sin," from Old French soillier "to splatter with mud, to foul or make dirty," originally "to wallow" (12c., Modern French souillier), from souil "tub, wild boar's wallow, pigsty," which is from either Latin solium "tub for bathing; seat," or Latin suculus "little pig," from sus "pig." Literal meaning "to make dirty, begrime" is attested from c. 1300 in English. Related: Soiled; soiling.

soil (n.1): c. 1300, originally "land, area, place," from Anglo-French soil "piece of ground, place" (13c.), from an merger or confusion of Old French sol "bottom, ground, soil" (12c., from Latin solum "soil, ground;" see sole (n.1)), Old French soeul, sueil "threshold, area, place" (from Latin solium "seat"), and Old French soil, soille "a miry place," from soillier (see soil (v.)). Meaning "place of one's nativity" is from c. 1400. Meaning "mould, earth, dirt" (especially that which plants grow in) is attested from mid-15c.

soil (n.2): "filth, dirt, refuse matter, sewage, liquid likely to contain excrement," c. 1600, earlier "miry or muddy place" (early 15c.), from Old French soille "miry place," from soillier (v.) "to make dirty," and in part a native formation from soil (v.). This is the sense in archaic night-soil.