soil

Meaning

1. A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
2. The unconsolidated mineral or organic material on the immediate surface of the earth that serves as a natural medium for the growth of land plants.
3. The unconsolidated mineral or organic matter on the surface of the earth that has been subjected to and shows effects of genetic and environmental factors of: climate (including water and temperature effects), and macro- and microorganisms, conditioned by relief, acting on parent material over a period of time. A product-soil differs from the material from which it is derived in many physical, chemical, biological, and morphological properties and characteristics.
4. Country or territory.
5. That which soils or pollutes; a stain.
6. A marshy or miry place to which a hunted boar resorts for refuge; hence, a wet place, stream, or tract of water, sought for by other game, as deer.
7. Dung; compost; manure.

earth

make dirty

get dirty

make a mess

soil quality

be spotted

brown earth

feed up

make mischief

piece of ground

piece of land

red earth

smutch

solid ground

base foundation

be stained

red clay

banco

waste

be soiled

be sullied

muddy up

play dirty tricks

fiield

make rough

bank gravel

pit run

territorial dominion

soil culture

make filthy

mortar for building

crushed rock

parcel of land

plot of land

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sɔɪl̩/

From Middle English soile, soyle, sule (“ground, earth”), partly from Anglo-Norman soyl (“bottom, ground, pavement”), from Latin solium (“seat, chair; throne”), mistaken for Latin solum (“ground, foundation, earth, sole of the foot”); and partly from Old English sol (“mud, mire, wet sand”), from Proto-Germanic *sulą (“mud, spot”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid”). Cognate with Middle Low German söle (“dirt, mud”), Middle Dutch sol (“dirt, filth”), Middle High German sol, söl (“dirt, mud, mire”), Danish søle (“mud, muck”). Compare French seuil (“level; threshold”) and sol (“soil, earth; ground”). See also sole, soal, solum.