sole
pronunciation
How to pronounce sole in British English:
UK [səʊl]
How to pronounce sole in American English:
US [soʊl]
-
- Noun:
- the underside of footwear or a golfclub
- lean flesh of any of several flatfish
- the underside of the foot
- right-eyed flatfish; many are valued as food; most common in warm seas especially European
-
- Verb:
- put a new sole on
-
- Adjective:
- not divided or shared with others
- being the only one; single and isolated from others
Word Origin
- sole
- sole: English has three separate words sole, two of them closely related. Sole ‘underneath of the foot’ [14] comes via Old French sole from Vulgar Latin *sola, a descendant of Latin solea ‘sandal, sill’ (a possible relative of English sill). And this in turn was derived from Latin solum ‘ground, sole of the foot’ (a possible contributor to English soil). Sole ‘flatfish’ [14] was independently borrowed from Old French sole in the sense ‘flatfish’, a metaphorical extension based on the similarity in shape between the fish and the sole of the foot. Sole ‘only’ [14] comes via Old French soul (ancestor of modern French seul ‘only, sole’) from Latin sōlus ‘alone, single’.The origins of this are uncertain, but it may be related to the pronoun sē ‘oneself’, in which case it could mean etymologically ‘by oneself’. Its other contributions to English include desolate [14], soliloquy [17], solitary [14], solo [17] (via Italian), and sullen.=> sill; desolate, solitary, solo, sullen
- sole (n.1)
- "bottom of the foot" ("technically, the planta, corresponding to the palm of the hand," Century Dictionary), early 14c., from Old French sole, from Vulgar Latin *sola, from Latin solea "sandal, bottom of a shoe; a flatfish," from solum "bottom, ground, foundation, lowest point of a thing" (hence "sole of the foot"), a word of uncertain origin. In English, the meaning "bottom of a shoe or boot" is from late 14c.
- sole (adj.)
- "single, alone, having no husband or wife; one and only, singular, unique," late 14c., from Old French soul "only, alone, just," from Latin solus "alone, only, single, sole; forsaken; extraordinary," of unknown origin, perhaps related to se "oneself," from PIE reflexive root *swo- (see so).
- sole (n.2)
- common European flatfish, mid-13c., from Old French sole, from Latin solea "a kind of flatfish," originally "sandal" (see sole (n.1)); so called from resemblance of the fish to a flat shoe.
- sole (v.)
- "furnish (a shoe) with a sole," 1560s, from sole (n.1). Related: Soled; soling.
Example
- 1. The world looks anew at its sole superpower .
- 2. The first target was ploesti , romania , germany 's sole source of oil .
- 3. The foundation is the sole funder of the committee .
- 4. But gender inequity is not the school 's sole focus , she says .
- 5. I am sorry but I ordered sole not the same as the others . Will you change it ?