salty
/ˈsɔlti/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.74 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
adj
Experienced, especially used to indicate a veteran of the naval services; salty dog (from salt of the sea).
adj
Pertaining to the Sardinian language and those dialects of Catalan, spoken in the Balearic Islands and along the coast of Catalonia, that use definitive articles descended from the Latin ipse (“self”) instead of the Latin ille (“that”).
Example Sentences
- "A few types of molecules get sensed by receptors on the tongue. Protons coming off of acids ping receptors for "sour." Sugars get received as "sweet." Bitter, salty, and the proteinaceous flavor umami all set off their own neural cascades."
- "At Zipaquirá, the salty ore is taken from the mine in chunks, then thrown into large tanks of water, where the salt is dissolved out. The resulting brine is drawn off into pipelines, containers, or tank trucks and sold […]"
- "My job was to couple the dumpers, full or empty, then uncouple them at the main shaft, and to open and close the weather door on the trip to the roof galleries, where the salty ore was dynamited and broken down."
- "In the following piece she has some characteristically salty things to say about what happens when law and medicine meet."
- "(In characteristically salty fashion, Sara admits: “I was no doubt a horrible little bitch" at this age.)"
- "The court might have been tempted to construe the First Amendment as too momentous — too consequential — to vindicate a disappointed teenager’s salty outburst after being cut from the varsity cheer squad."
Etymology
PIE word *sḗh₂l Inherited from Middle English salti. Equivalent to salt + -y. Compare Saterland Frisian soaltig (“salty”), West Frisian sâltich (“salty”), Dutch zoutig (“salty”), German Low German soltig (“salty”), German salzig (“salty”). (coarse; irritated, annoyed): Referencing the sharp, 'spicy' flavor of salt. (indignant): Perhaps implying the person is a crybaby, shedding salty tears, or derived from the preceding.
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɔlti/
- British English: /ˈsɒlti/