Join free

soul

English · Français · Deutsch · Italiano · Română · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

soul¹

  • /səʊl/ UK
  • [sɔʊɫ] UK
  • [sɒʊɫ] UK
  • /soʊl/ US
  • [so̞ːɫ] Canada
  • /səʉl/ Australia
  • /sɐʉl/ Australia
  • /sɐʉl/ New Zealand

Sounds like Seoul, sole, sowl · Rhymes with -əʊl

Where it comes from

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.

noun souls · sowl · soule

  1. countable, uncountable The spirit or essence of a person usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality, often believed to live on after the person's death. 1836, Hans Christian Andersen (translated into English by Mrs. H. B. Paull in 1872), The Little Mermaid "Among the daughters of the air," answered one of them. "A mermaid has not an immortal soul, nor can she obtain one unless she wins the love of a human being. On the power of another hangs her ete
  2. countable, uncountable The spirit or essence of anything. From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.

    Similar: crux

  3. countable, uncountable Life, energy, vigor. That he vvants Algebra he muſt confeſs. / But not a ſoul to give our arms ſucceſs.
  4. countable, uncountable Cultural consciousness and pride among people of African American heritage.
  5. countable, uncountable A strong positive feeling of intense sensitivity and emotional fervor conveyed especially by African American performers.
  6. countable, uncountable Soul music.
  7. countable, uncountable A person, especially as one among many. 18 January 1915, D. H. Lawrence, letter to William Hopkin I want to gather together about twenty souls and sail away from this world of war and squalor and found a little colony where there shall be no money but a sort of communism as far as necessaries of life go, and some real decency.
  8. countable, uncountable An individual life. Fifty souls were lost when the ship sank.
  9. countable, uncountable A kind of submanifold involved in the soul theorem of Riemannian geometry.

Similar: gist

adjective sowl · soule

  1. not comparable Characteristic of or pertaining to African American culture. soul music

verb souls · souling · souled · sowl · soule

  1. obsolete, transitive To endow with a soul or mind.

    Similar: besoul, ensoul

  2. To beg on All Soul's Day. All Souls' Day was celebrated by souling, a custom going back to pre-Reformation days: soul cakers and mummers toured the village begging for a soul cake — a plain, round, flat cake seasoned with spices.

soul²

Where it comes from

Borrowed from French souler (“to satiate”).

verb souls · souling · souled

  1. obsolete To feed or nourish. During my Stay here, I was going to take Pot-Luck with Colonel Ingram, and accidentally meeting him in the Way, I told him I deſigned to ſoul a Plate with him, [...]

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: psyche, soulfulness, somebody, person, individual, someone, mortal, human, spiritual, spirit, ghost, anima, psychology, life, essence, conscience

noun

Similar: gist

Translations

Every language

noun the spirit or essence of a person that is often believed to live on after the person's death

Españolalma, pneuma
한국어영혼 yeonghon, 혼백 honbaek, 넋 neok, 얼 eol
日本語魂 tamashii, 霊, 魂魄 konpaku
中文靈魂 /灵魂 línghún, 魂魄 húnpò
हिन्दीआत्मा ātmā, रूह rūh, नफ़्स nafs, नफ्स naphs
Kiswahiliroho, nafsi
Portuguêsalma
Françaisâme
DeutschSeele
Italianoanima
Ελληνικάψυχή psychí
Românăsuflet
Русскийдуша́ dušá
Tiếng Việtlinh hồn
العربيةرُوح rūḥ, نَفْس nafs
עבריתנְשָׁמָה neshamá, נֶפֶשׁ néfesh, רוּחַ rúakh

noun life, energy, vigour

한국어넋 neok, 정신 jeongsin
日本語魂 tamashii, 精神 seishin
中文心靈 /心灵 xīnlíng, 魂 hún
Portuguêsânimo
Françaisâme
DeutschGeist
Ελληνικάψυχή psychí
Românăspirit
Русскийдуша́ dušá, дух dux
עבריתרוח חיים ruakh khayím, נְשָׁמָה n'shamá

noun soul music

한국어소울 soul
日本語ソウル souru, ソール sōru
Portuguêssoul
Françaissoul
DeutschSoul
Italianosoul
Ελληνικάσόουλ sóoul
Русскийсо́ул sóul
العربيةسول sūl
עבריתנְשָׁמָה n'shamá

noun person, especially as one among many

हिन्दीजीवन jīvan, जान jān
Portuguêsalma
Françaisâme
DeutschSeele
Italianoanima, persona
Ελληνικάψυχή psychí
Românăsuflet
עבריתנֶפֶשׁ néfesh, נפש חיה néfesh hayá

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{soul_2026,
  title = {soul},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/soul},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}