green soap
- noun
- /ɡrin soʊp/
- After gardening, I washed my hands with green soap to remove the dirt and soothe my skin.
Examples
-
Once a week, the women scrub their pavements with green soap and water.
Fiction book (1994) -
The nurse recommended using green soap to clean the wound and prevent infection.
-
For cleaning sensitive skin, many dermatologists suggest using a gentle green soap made from natural ingredients.
Synonyms
A thing used for washing, for example a bar or liquid
A liquid used to wash hands or the body
A mild soap made from plant oils for sensitive skin
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward color + noun compound: 'green' (color/plant-related) + 'soap' denotes a kind or variety of soap, so its meaning as a type of soap is directly inferable from the constituents. Color+noun constructions are cross-linguistically common and follow regular compositional patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily understand this MWE.
Etymology
Green soap may come from a kind of soap that was actually green because it was made from plant oils. That's why green soap now means a soft, gentle soap used for 'cleaning' and 'treating skin'.