# salt

> English word · Noun · IPA /sɒlt/ · frequency rank #2,499

## Definitions
1. A common substance, chemically consisting mainly of sodium chloride (NaCl), used extensively as a food ingredient, seasoning, condiment, and preservative.
2. One of the compounds formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, where a positive ion replaces a hydrogen of the acid.
3. A salt marsh, a saline marsh at the shore of a sea.
4. A sailor (also old salt).
5. A sequence of random data added to plain text data (such as passwords or messages) prior to encryption or hashing, in order to make brute force decryption more difficult.
6. A person who seeks employment at a company in order to (once employed by it) help unionize it.
7. Flavour; taste; seasoning.
8. Piquancy; wit; sense.
9. A dish for salt at table; a salt cellar.
10. Epsom salts or other salt used as a medicine.
11. Skepticism and common sense.
12. Tears; indignation; outrage; arguing.
13. The money demanded by Eton schoolboys during the montem.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *séh₂ls
From Middle English salt, from Old English sealt, from Proto-West Germanic *salt, from Proto-Germanic *saltą, from Proto-Indo-European *séh₂ls (“salt”). Doublet of sal, salary, and salsa, all ultimately from Latin sāl (“salt”), which it superseded as the general term for "salt".

## Easily confused with
- **SL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sl)
- **say** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-say)
- **set** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-set)
- **saw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-saw)
- **san** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-san)
- **sit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sit)
- **Sam** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sam)
- **sat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sat)
- **sol** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sol)
- **sap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sap)
- **SAS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sas)
- **sly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sly)
- **SQL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sql)
- **Sao** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sao)
- **SNL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-snl)
- **Sar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sar)
- **sax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sax)
- **sil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-sil)
- **SLR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-slr)
- **SMT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salt-vs-smt)

## Common misspellings (6)
`aslt`, `sallt`, `saltt`, `satl`, `slat`, `ssalt`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/salt