石せっ鹸けん

せ

っ

け

ん

Common wordJLPTN5Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

1

noun

soap

General term for soap, including bar soap, liquid soap, and soap as a substance.

手てを石せっ鹸けんで洗あらってください。
Please wash your hands with soap.
この石せっ鹸けんはいい香かおりがする。
This soap smells nice.

Written forms

石せっ鹸けんUsage34%
Standard kanji spelling; high priority.
石せっけんUsage40%
Common mixed kanji-kana spelling, often used in product labels and everyday writing.
石せっ鹼けんUsage16%
search-only kanji form
Search-only kanji form; 鹼 is a rare variant of 鹸.
せっけんUsage6%
セッケンUsage4%

Kanji

石stone
鹸saltiness
鹼alkaline, alkali, lye

Similar words

シャンプー
シャンプー specifically means shampoo for hair, while 石鹸 is a broader term for soap used on body, hands, or laundry.
洗せん剤ざい
洗剤 refers to detergent, often synthetic and used for laundry or dishes, whereas 石鹸 typically implies traditional soap made from fats and oils.

Etymology

The kanji 石鹸 literally means 'stone alkali', reflecting the historical process of making soap from ash and oils. The reading せっけん is the on'yomi of these characters.