overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

souse.

Something kept or steeped in brine.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/saʊs/
  1. Something kept or steeped in brine. The pickled ears, feet, etc., of swine.

  2. Something kept or steeped in brine. The pickled ears, feet, etc., of swine. Pickled scrapple.

    Appalachia · US
  3. Something kept or steeped in brine. The pickled ears, feet, etc., of swine. Pickled or boiled ears and feet of a pig

    Caribbean
  4. Something kept or steeped in brine. A pickle made with salt.

  5. Something kept or steeped in brine. The ear; especially, a hog's ear.

  6. The act of sousing; a plunging into water.

  7. A drunkard.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English souse (“to salt pickle”) also a noun (“liquid for pickling,” “pickled pig parts”), from Old French sous (“preserved in salt”), from Frankish *sultija (“saltwater, brine”), from Proto-Germanic *sultijō (“saltwater, brine”). Cognate with Old Saxon sultia (“saltwater”), Old High German sulza (“brine”).

verb/saʊs/
  1. To immerse in liquid; to steep or drench.

    transitive
  2. To steep in brine; to pickle.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English souse (“to salt pickle”) also a noun (“liquid for pickling,” “pickled pig parts”), from Old French sous (“preserved in salt”), from Frankish *sultija (“saltwater, brine”), from Proto-Germanic *sultijō (“saltwater, brine”). Cognate with Old Saxon sultia (“saltwater”), Old High German sulza (“brine”).

noun/saʊs/
  1. The act of sousing, or swooping.

  2. A heavy blow.

Where this word comes from

Obscure origin. Compare Middle German sûs (“noise”).

verb/saʊs/
  1. To strike, beat.

    dialectal · transitive
  2. To fall heavily.

    dialectal · intransitive
  3. To pounce upon.

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

Obscure origin. Compare Middle German sûs (“noise”).

adv/saʊs/
  1. Suddenly, without warning.

    archaic · dialectal · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Obscure origin. Compare Middle German sûs (“noise”).

noun/saʊs/
  1. A sou (the French coin).

    obsolete
  2. A small amount.

    dated
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from French, from Old French sous (plural of sout), from Latin solidus. Compare solidus (“gold coin of the late Roman empire”).

noun/saʊs/
  1. Pronunciation spelling of source.

    Internet · US · alt-of · pronunciation-spelling
Where this word comes from

First appeared online during the Bush administration.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

souse has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

souse studiosouse workshello, souse

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.