Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of sapo
Coloured illustration of sapo
#2277 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

soap

Word origin

From Latin sapo, which the Romans borrowed from a Germanic word for a hair dressing made of tallow and ash. The same Germanic root gives English soap and German Seife, so the word went out to Latin and came back.

Origin
Latin, from Germanic
Root
sapo
English cognates
soap, saponify

Examples

.

Wash your hands with water and soap.

.

The soap slipped out of my fingers into the water.

.

She bought a new bar of soap.

One root, three letters, no seam. - plus the noun ending, and that is the entire word. There is nothing to take apart and nothing hiding in it.

Do not let it drift into sagxa. Latin has a second -, in e, to taste and hence to be wise, which is where saĝa and English sapient and savant come from. It is a completely different root that happens to start the same way. Soap has never had anything to do with wisdom, whatever your grandmother said about washing out mouths.

The family it grows. Sapi is to soap something, i to lather it, o the soap dish, sapŝaŭmo the lather, and sapveziko a soap bubble. A soap opera is a o in some writers and a televida in more cautious ones.

Around it. Lavi is to wash, bani to bathe, banejo the bathroom, and what you are after is pura.

Where this fits

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

Esperanto · Free printables

sapo: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "sapo" (soap): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 46.