sal soda
- noun
- /sæl ˈsoʊdə/
- Archaic
- Add a spoonful of sal soda to soften the laundry water.
Examples
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Many glass manufacturers rely on sal soda as a key ingredient.
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In the past, sal soda was commonly used in paper production.
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I bought some sal soda for my experiments.
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You can find sal sodas in the chemical supply store.
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Add a spoonful of sal soda to soften the laundry water.
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In the past, sal soda was commonly used in paper production.
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Many glass manufacturers rely on sal soda as a key ingredient.
Synonyms
8
3.7
A white powder that cleans clothes and removes grease
3
2.9
A white chemical that helps make soap, glass, and paper
2
3.9
A white powder people use for cleaning and for making glass and soap
1
6.0
A white powder used to make soap, glass, and paper
Surface Forms
Morphology
sal + soda
The element 'sal' is not a productive or recognized English morpheme here (entry shows '[Word not found in dictionary]'), so an average B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not reliably interpret it. Although 'soda' may hint at an alkaline compound (or a soft drink), the combination does not transparently yield the technical chemical meaning 'sodium carbonate'. Therefore the overall meaning is idiomatic/lexicalized and not derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Sal soda may come from old words sal and soda, meaning 'salt' and 'ashes', because people long ago made a white, salty powder by burning plants and using the ashes. That's why the name came to mean the substance we now call 'sodium carbonate', a white powder used to clean clothes and to make glass and paper.