# soft/hard soap



## lingon

Please fill in and correct me where I'm wrong!
Any more languages than Swedish that have completely different words for hard and soft soap?

English: Soap, hard soap
German: Seife, harte Seife 
Swedish: Tvål
Danish: Saebe, haard saebe, toiletsaebe
Norwegian: Såpe
Finnish: Saippua 
French: Savon, savon dur
Spanish: Jabón
Portuguese: Sabon 

English: Soft soap
German: Schmierseife, weiche Seife 
Swedish: Såpa
Danish: Blød saebe
Finnish: Suopa
French: Savon mol, savon noir
Spanish: Jabón blando negro, jabón blando verde


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## diegodbs

Well, I speak Spanish, and I don't know what "jabón blando negro,jabón blando verde" mean.

What do you mean by "soft soap"?


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## lingon

The one you clean floors etc. with.


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## Roi Marphille

Catalan added below :

English: Soap, hard soap
German: Seife, harte Seife 
Swedish: Tvål
Danish: Saebe, haard saebe, toiletsaebe
Norwegian: Såpe
Finnish: Saippua 
French: Savon, savon dur
Spanish: Jabón
Portuguese: Sabon 
Catalan: Sabó

English: Soft soap
German: Schmierseife, weiche Seife 
Swedish: Såpa
Danish: Blød saebe
Finnish: Suopa
French: Savon mol, savon noir
Spanish: Jabón blando negro, jabón blando verde, ¿fregasuelos?
Catalan: frega-terres...?


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## annettehola

Correction: We don't really say "haard saebe" or "toiletsaebe" in Danish. We would use: "haandsaebe." 
Annette


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## elroy

Do you mean _*soap*_ and _*detergent*_?


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## annettehola

Hey, that's a good question now! If you mean detergent, then tell us of what type because in Danish, fx., we distinguish between what it's for (washing up, cleaning the floor, and bla-bla). 
For washing-up = opvaskemiddel
For cleaning the floor = gulvsaebe
For washing your hands = haandsaebe.
Annette


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## Outsider

lingon said:
			
		

> Please fill in and correct me where I'm wrong!
> Any more languages than Swedish that have completely different words for hard and soft soap?
> 
> [...]
> Portuguese: Sabon  Sabão


Sorry, but I'm still not sure what you mean by "hard soap" and "soft soap". Solid versus liquid?


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## diegodbs

lingon said:
			
		

> The one you clean floors etc. with.


 
We never use this expression "jabón blando". We can say "friegasuelos", "jabón líquido", "productos de limpieza para suelos", but "blando" never.


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## Drusillo

I look for "soft soap" in Google images, the results is "liquid soap".
In italian we have:
hard soap = sapone
soft soap = sapone liquido

Detergent = detergente (è un'altra parola)

Ciao


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## Lancel0t

Filipino
soap: sabon
soft: malambot
hard: matigas


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## Paul Wessen

It may be worth pointing out that in English the only way I have heard "softsoap" (one word)  used is as as a verb: Example:   "She could softsoap that poor fool into giving her anything she wanted."

----------------  Paul


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## JLanguage

_From dictionary.com:_

"Hard soap: Any one of a great variety of soaps, of different ingredients and color, which are hard and compact. All *solid soaps* are of this class.

Soft soap: a soap of a gray or brownish yellow color, and of a slimy, jellylike consistence, made from potash or the lye from wood ashes. It is strongly alkaline and often contains glycerin, and is used in scouring wood, in cleansing linen, in dyehouses, etc. Figuratively, flattery; wheedling; blarney." 
Also:* "A fluid or semifluid soap."*

Bar soap - a hard soap in bar form usually used for bathing/showering and also for handwashing.

Soft soap - is also called "liquid soap", when referring to a liquid soap used for bathing or handwashing. Soft soap used for handwashing is also called "hand soap" and "antibacterial soap". Soft soap used for bathing is also called "body wash".

Hope that helps,
-Jonathan.


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## Anna Più

Roi Marphille said:
			
		

> Catalan added below :
> (...)
> Catalan: Sabó
> Catalan: frega-terres...?


   Detergent 

I think is a better translation 
A+


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## Agnès E.

Suggestion for French:

- hard soap = savon
- soft soap = savon liquide


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## Roi Marphille

Anna Più said:
			
		

> Detergent
> 
> I think is a better translation
> A+


well, kind of...you may not use "detergent" to clean the floor ...but it is your choice.  
I use _detergent_ to clean the clothes.


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## Laia

Anna and Roi...
what do you think about "sabó pel terra"? 
(simple, eh?) xD


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## Roi Marphille

I don't think so. Never heard. To clean the floor I use: _frega-terres_.

PS:Laia: ens vols donar sabó?  (*donar sabó *(a algú) _fig_ Ensabonar-lo, adular-lo. )


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## Laia

Then, I disagree with you...

PS: Roi, què et fa il·lusió que et digui?...


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## martinemussies

Hi everyone!

What a funny tread  .

In Dutch, the difference between those two is not that well-determed, I guess (correct me when I'm wrong!), we just use:

Soap = zeep (mostly used for "hard" soap, to clean your hands)
and if the soap is mixed with water to clean a floor we call it "zeepsop".

This one: http://www.biconet.com/home/GIFs/citraDish2.jpg ;
we call it "afwasmiddel". 

Washing = wassen, dishwashing = afwassen, the dirty dishes = afwas.
"Middel" can mean different things, but here it is used as "stuff". So
the word "afwasmiddel" means "stuff to wash the dirty dishes with".

Hopes this helpes! xx Martine.


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## annettehola

In this case Dutch and Danish are not that far apart in spelling and pronunciation, actually. "opvaskemiddel" is "afwasmiddel." Very familiar. But I don't agree with your definition of "middel." I don't think it means "stuff," unless you mean "means." That is actually what it means, Martine: "A means of cleaning the dishes."
Annette


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## Anna Più

Roi Marphille said:
			
		

> well, kind of...you may not use "detergent" to clean the floor ...but it is your choice.
> I use _detergent_ to clean the clothes.


 
Roi and Laia (mentre us ensaboneu... ),
Frega-terres is a bad translation of "fregasuelos"! In the daily speaking we can say "neteja-terres", but I'm not shure at all.
"Detergent" is for clothes, floor, dishes...
Detergent o, how Laia says, sabó de... terra, rentar plats...

Roi! abandona el frega-terres! o _rimarrai fregato!_ (lingüísticament parlant,és clar).


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## Laia

Anna Più said:
			
		

> Detergent o, how Laia says, sabó de... terra, rentar plats...
> 
> Roi! abandona el frega-terres! o _rimarrai fregato!_ (lingüísticament parlant,és clar).


 
Ole Anna!!


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## Roi Marphille

Anna Più said:
			
		

> "Detergent" is for clothes, floor, dishes...


yeah yeah yeah  
you can do whatever you want at your house...but I repeat that I would not use _detergent_ to clean the floor nor the dishes. Do you use it for clearing the snow from the front-door ...I don't know...to feed the dog ? I bet you save a lot of money only buying one product for all. That's your choice.  
Ps: vaja conxorxa que porteu vosaltres dues.


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## Laia

Finally...
Neither _frega-terres_ nor _detergent_.  At my home is all called _sabó_. Point. We have _sabó per dutxar-se_, _sabó per fregar els plats_, _sabó per la rentadora_, _sabó pel terra_...
Oh excuse me!  ... I'd forgotten that I'm a simply _camaca_... 

P.S: tot això després de l'ensabonament i la conxorxa...


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## Anna Più

> Roi:
> yeah yeah yeah
> you can do whatever you want at your house...but I repeat that I would not use _detergent_ to clean the floor nor the dishes. Do you use it for clearing the snow from the front-door ...I don't know...to feed the dog ? I bet you save a lot of money only buying one product for all. That's your choice.


 
Hi again,
Roi, You can say _Frega-terres_, but is not correct.  All is _detergent_, and is clear that we have to add what is the detergent for. I suspect that we haven't this "magical"* word in Catalan. Nevertheless, I'll nearly give you a definitive answer about this...

*Màgica perquè hauríem trobat la paraula-producte per netejar les nostres controvèrsies sobre el tema

Apa,
Salut amics!
A+
[Edit]
Hi again,
The CPNL of Catalonia (Centre per a la Normalització Lingülistica) says that the castillian* Limpiasuelos* (and not fregasuelos) in Catalan is _*Líquid de fregar*_ !
Ni detergent, ni sabó, Laia!; ni fregaterres, Roi!... Líquid de fregar! Apa!

Fins ara,
A+


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## Neever

Unless somebody was looking to be VERY specific, an Irish person would really only ever say "soap" for hard soap, and "liquid detergent" for soft soap.  even liquid detergent would be quite formal, we would be more likely to say "washing up liquid" or "washing machine liquid".


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## essa3

Saboon - Arabic


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## macta123

Soft Soap - Naram Sabun ki tikia (nahaney ka sabun) 
(for bath)

Hard Soap - Gada Sabun (kapadey dhoney vala)
(for washing clothes)


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## apmoy70

Greek:

Soap: *«Σαπούνι»* [saˈpuni] (neut.) < Byz.Gr. neut. diminutive *«σαπώνιον» sapṓnion* & *«σαπούνιον» sapoúnion* --> _soap bar_, of Koine 3rd declension masc. noun *«σάπων» sắpōn* (nom. sing.), *«σάπωνος» sắpōnŏs* (gen. sing.) --> _soap_ (either a Latin loan (sāpō), or a word borrowed from the Galatian Celts of Asia Minor).

Soft soap/liquid soap: *«Υγρό σαπούνι»* [iˈɣro saˈpuni] (both neut.) --> _liquid soap_.
The adjective is *«υγρός, -ρή, -ρό»* [iˈɣros] (masc.), [iˈɣri] (fem.), [iˈɣro] (neut.) --> _liquid, wet, moist_ < Classical Greek adjective *«ὑγρός, -ρά, -ρόν» hŭgrós* (masc.), *hŭgrā́* (fem.), *hŭgrón* (neut.) - -> _wet, moist_ (PIE *ue̯gʷ- _to moist, irrigate_ cf Lat. ūmēre).

Detergent: *«Απορρυπαντικό»* [apoɾipandiˈko] (neut.) a modern construction calqued for the Eng. _detergent_, a compound: Classical prefix and preposition *«ἀπό» ăpó* --> _far away, away from_ (PIE *h₂epo- _from_ cf Skt. अप (apa), _away_, Hitt. āppa- _after_, Lat. ab, Proto-Germanic *ab > Eng. of/off, Dt. af/ave-) + Classical masc. noun *«ῥύπος» rʰúpŏs* --> _filth, uncleanliness (e.g. in the ear)_ possibly related to the Slavic word for _scab_, *strupъ (> Rus. струп).


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