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Glite Dictionary
soda niter

soda niter

9.9
A white crystal used to make plant food and explosives
  • noun
  • /ˈsoʊdə ˈnaɪtər/
  • Archaic
translation icon : salitre
  • Farmers often use soda niter to enhance crop growth.

Examples

  • Some types of gunpowder contain soda niter as an oxidizing agent.

  • The company imports soda niter for use in agricultural fertilizers.

  • Because of its high solubility, soda niter dissolves quickly in water.

  • The soda niter in the fertilizer helps plants absorb nutrients.

  • The company imports soda niter for use in agricultural fertilizers.

  • The soda niter in the fertilizer helps plants absorb nutrients.

  • Some types of gunpowder contain soda niter as an oxidizing agent.

Synonyms

sodium nitrate
vssoda niter
  • Specialized
1 4.0

A white substance people use as a fertilizer and to make explosives

is an alternative name for the same substance

Surface Forms

soda niter singular
soda niters plural

Morphology

soda + niter

The compound's meaning is directly built from its parts: 'soda' signals a sodium-containing substance and 'niter' denotes a nitrate/crystalline compound, so together they indicate sodium nitrate. This chemical naming pattern is compositional and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The noun soda niter comes from old names: soda for 'sodium' and niter for 'saltpeter'. Imagine white crystals gathered from dry ground, and because this white salt was used as a fertilizer and in gunpowder, the name came to mean the chemical called 'sodium nitrate'.