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saponify (suh-PON-uh-fai) - v., (transitive) to convert (a fat or oil) into soap using an alkali; (intransitive) to be converted into soap.
Or more technically in chemistry, to hydrolyze any ester (not just oil/fat) using an alkali. From French saponifier, coined from Latin sāpō, soap, from a source Germanic *saipǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *seyb-/*seyp-, to pour out/trickle/strain, which also via Old English gave us English soap.
---L.
Or more technically in chemistry, to hydrolyze any ester (not just oil/fat) using an alkali. From French saponifier, coined from Latin sāpō, soap, from a source Germanic *saipǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *seyb-/*seyp-, to pour out/trickle/strain, which also via Old English gave us English soap.
---L.
