saponification

1 9.9

A chemical process that turns fat or oil into soap when mixed with a strong base

noun
/ˌsæpəˌnɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/

Specialized

: saponificación

In saponification, fats and oils undergo a chemical reaction with an alkali to form soap.

Examples

So it actually eats up the Lye as in saponification that we talked about last time.
OK, now why does this thing have a special name saponification, this particular substitution reaction?
Saponification resulted in few natural esters; however, it led to lower recovery under some conditions.

Academic text (2006)
The process of saponification is essential in the production of handmade soap from natural oils.
During saponification, triglycerides react with lye to produce glycerol and soap.

Surface Forms

saponification singular

saponifications plural

Morphology

saponification = saponify (semi-transparent) = sapon + ify + ation

The noun is a regular nominalization of the verb 'saponify', but the combining form 'sapon-' is not a standalone English word (and differs in form from 'soap'), making it less immediately transparent to learners.

Etymology

Saponification comes from the Latin parts sapon- meaning 'soap' and -fication meaning 'making'. So it literally means 'making soap', which is why saponification is the chemical process that turns fats or oils into soap.