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sauce

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sauce¹

  • /sɔːs/ Northern England, UK, Wales
  • /soːs/ Australia, British, New Zealand
  • /sɔs/ US
  • [sɔə̯s] New York City, Philadelphia, US
  • [sʊə̯s] New York City, Philadelphia, US
  • [soə̯s] New York City, Philadelphia, US
  • /sɑs/ US, cot caught merger
  • /sɒs/ Canada
  • /sɔs/ Scotland
  • /sos/ Philippines

Sounds like source (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔːs

Where it comes from

PIE word

*sḗh₂l

From Middle English sauce, from Old French sause, from Vulgar Latin *salsa, noun use of the feminine of Latin salsus (“salted”), past participle of saliō (“to salt”), from sal. Doublet of salsa.

For the meaning development compare Ancient Greek ἥδυσμα (hḗdusma) ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swéh₂dus (whence also English sweet).

noun sauces · sawce

  1. countable, uncountable A liquid (often thickened) condiment or accompaniment to food. apple sauce; mint sauce
  2. Australia, India, New Zealand, UK, countable, uncountable Tomato sauce (similar to US tomato ketchup), as in [meat] pie and [tomato] sauce
  3. countable, slang, uncountable Alcohol, booze. Maybe you should lay off the sauce.

    Similar: adult beverage, alcohol, bevvy, booze, carouse, drink, fuddling, grog, hard drink, libation, liquor, lush

  4. countable, slang, uncountable Vitality; capability or talent. It's over for that guy. He lost the sauce.

    Similar: juice

  5. countable, uncountable Anabolic steroids.
  6. countable, uncountable A soft crayon for use in stump drawing or in shading with the stump.
  7. countable, dated, uncountable Cheek; impertinence; backtalk; sass. "See here, Captain!" He planted himself squarely in front of Faramir, his hands on his hips, and a look on his face as if he was addressing a young hobbit who had offered him what he called "sauce" when questioned about visiting the orchard.
  8. US, countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable Vegetables. I wanted cabbage or potaters, or most any sort o' garden sarse [...]
  9. UK, US, countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable Any garden vegetables eaten with meat. Roots, herbs, vine fruits, and salad flowers […] they dish up various ways, and find them very delicious sauce to their meats, both roasted and boiled, fresh and salt.

Similar: sowl

verb sauces · saucing · sauced · sawce

  1. To add sauce to; to season.
  2. To cause to relish anything, as if with a sauce; to tickle or gratify, as the palate; to please; to stimulate. Earth, yield me roots; / Who seeks for better of thee, sauce his palate / With thy most operant poison!
  3. To make poignant; to give zest, flavour or interest to; to set off; to vary and render attractive. Then fell she to sauce her desires with threatenings.
  4. colloquial To treat with bitter, pert, or tart language; to be impudent or saucy to. I'll sauce her with bitter words.
  5. slang To send or hand over.

sauce²

  • /sɔːs/ Northern England, UK, Wales
  • /soːs/ Australia, British, New Zealand
  • /sɔs/ US
  • [sɔə̯s] New York City, Philadelphia, US
  • [sʊə̯s] New York City, Philadelphia, US
  • [soə̯s] New York City, Philadelphia, US
  • /sɑs/ US, cot caught merger
  • /sɒs/ Canada
  • /sɔs/ Scotland
  • /sos/ Philippines

Sounds like source (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔːs

noun sauces · sawce

  1. Internet, alternative, humorous Alternative form of source, often used when requesting the source of an image or other posted material.

SAUCE³

proper noun

  1. abbreviation, acronym Acronym of Standard Architecture for Universal Comment Extensions

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: paste, gravy, broth, sausage, juice, ketchup, soy, salsa, purée, booze, spice, dressing, rock, dip, drop, alcohol

noun

Similar: sowl

Translations

Every language

noun liquid condiment

Españolsalsa
한국어소스 soseu
日本語ソース sōsu
中文醬 /酱 jiàng, 汁 zhī, 醬汁 /酱汁 jiàngzhī, 沙司 shāsī
हिन्दीचटनी caṭnī, सॉस sŏs
Portuguêsmolho
Françaissauce
DeutschSoße, Sauce
Italianosalsa
Ελληνικάσάλτσα sáltsa
Românăsos
Русскийсо́ус sóus, подли́вка podlívka
Tiếng Việtxốt, nước chấm, tương
العربيةصَلْصَة ṣalṣa, مَرَق maraq, مَرَقَة maraqa
עבריתרוטב \ רֹטֶב rótev

noun cheek

Ελληνικάαυθάδεια afthádeia
Русскийна́глость náglostʹ, де́рзость dérzostʹ, наха́льство naxálʹstvo

verb apply sauce

Españolsalsear
Ελληνικάαρτύω με σάλτσα artýo me sáltsa

verb give cheek

Ελληνικάαυθαδιάζω afthadiázo

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"sauce." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/sauce. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

sauce. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/sauce

Chicago

"sauce." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/sauce.

BibTeX
@misc{sauce_2026,
  title = {sauce},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/sauce},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}