Soak

How to spell soak

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce soak

What does soak mean?

1. verbTo make something thoroughly wet by leaving it immersed in liquid, or to absorb liquid.
2. nounA period spent immersed in liquid, especially a long, relaxing bath.

Soak in a sentence

• verb

  Leave the dried beans to soak overnight before cooking.

• noun

  After the hike she treated herself to a long soak in the tub.

• verb

  A hot bath will soak away the aches from a long day.

• noun

  The stained pan needed a good overnight soak to come clean.

Where does soak come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, descending from the Old English verb socian, which meant 'to steep in liquid' or 'to lie immersed'. That verb was closely related to sucan, the ancestor of modern 'suck', and both grew from the same Germanic root carrying the idea of drawing in liquid. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable across the centuries, with the long 'oa' vowel doing the work of the older Old English form. By extension the word picked up everyday senses such as drenching something deliberately and, more colourfully, the slang sense of charging someone far too much money. The link with 'suck' is a useful memory hook: both describe liquid being pulled in.

How the word is built

• soak (single Old English root; no prefix or suffix)