Link Centre Dictionary

soul

UK/səʊl/ US/sɔʊɫ/ very common

noun

1.

the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life

Synonyms
2.

a human being

  • “there was too much for one person to do”
Synonyms
3.
4.

the human embodiment of something

  • “the soul of honor”
5.

a secular form of gospel that was a major Black musical genre in the 1960s and 1970s

  • “soul was politically significant during the Civil Rights movement”

Origin

From Middle English soule, sowle, saule, sawle, from Old English sāwol (“soul, life, spirit, being”), from Proto-West Germanic *saiwalu, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō (“soul”), of an uncertain ultimate origin (see there for further information). Cognates Cognate with Scots saul, sowel (“soul”), Saterland Frisian Seele (“soul”), West Frisian siel (“soul”), Alemannic German Seel (“soul”), Central Franconian Siel (“soul”), Dutch ziel (“soul”), German Seele (“soul”), German Low German Seel (“soul”), Luxembourgish Séil (“soul, spirit”), Vilamovian zejł, zəjł, zyił (“soul”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌰 (saiwala, “soul”). Scandinavian homonyms seem to have been borrowed from Old Saxon sēola. Modern Danish sjæl (“soul”), Icelandic sál (“soul”), Norwegian Bokmål sjel (“soul”), Norwegian Nynorsk sjel, sål (“soul”), Swedish själ (“soul”), Finnish sielu (“soul”) may have come from Old English sāwol.

Phrases

  • after one's own soul
  • album-oriented soul
  • All Souls' Day
  • animal soul
  • bare one's soul
  • bless my soul
  • blue-eyed soul
  • body and soul
  • dark night of the soul

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.