"salt of the earth" meaning in English

See salt of the earth in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-salt of the earth.ogg
Etymology: Calque of Ancient Greek τὸ ἅλας τῆς γῆς (tò hálas tês gês) in the Book of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 13. Etymology templates: {{calque|en|grc|τὸ ἅλας τῆς γῆς}} Calque of Ancient Greek τὸ ἅλας τῆς γῆς (tò hálas tês gês) Head templates: {{en-noun|?}} salt of the earth
  1. (idiomatic) A person or group of people considered to represent the most decent and admirable parts of humanity. Wikipedia link: Book of Matthew Tags: idiomatic Categories (topical): People Related terms: down-to-earth, earthy, worth one's salt Translations (a decent, dependable person): ملح الأرض (Arabic), sal de la terra (Catalan), 好人 (hǎorén) (Chinese Mandarin), kunnon ihminen (Finnish), maan suola (Finnish), sel de la Terre [masculine] (French), Salz der Erde [neuter] (German), מלח הארץ (Hebrew), sale della terra [masculine] (Italian), 地の塩 (Japanese), 세상의 소금 (sesang'ui sogeum) (Korean), sal terrae (Latin), աղ երկրի (ał erkri) (Old Armenian), eorþan sealt (Old English), ملح (milh) (Ottoman Turkish), sól ziemi [feminine] (Polish), sal da terra [masculine] (Portuguese), sarea pământului [feminine] (Romanian), соль земли́ (solʹ zemlí) [feminine] (Russian), sal de la tierra [feminine] (Spanish), Jordens salt (Swedish), เกลือแห่งโลก (glʉʉa-hɛ̀ng-lôok) (Thai), เกลือแห่งแผ่นดินโลก (glʉʉa-hɛ̀ng-pɛ̀n-din-lôok) (Thai), คนดี (kon-dii) (note: in the non-biblical sense) (Thai), halen y ddaear (Welsh)
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          "text": "\"When someone dies, especially when a life is cut short under tragic circumstances, people always say, 'they were great, they were the salt of the earth,'\" said Hagit Hornstein, a friend and colleague of Cherkesky. \"But Michal [Cherkesky] really was perfect. There's no other word to describe her, an angel. I miss her already.\"",
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          "code": "ar",
          "lang": "Arabic",
          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
          "word": "ملح الأرض"
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          "code": "xcl",
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          "word": "աղ երկրի"
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          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
          "word": "sal de la terra"
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          "roman": "hǎorén",
          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
          "word": "好人"
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          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
          "word": "kunnon ihminen"
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          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
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          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
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          "code": "de",
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          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
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          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
          "word": "מלח הארץ"
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          "tags": [
            "masculine"
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          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
          "word": "地の塩"
        },
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          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "roman": "sesang'ui sogeum",
          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
          "word": "세상의 소금"
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          "code": "la",
          "lang": "Latin",
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          "word": "sal terrae"
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          "word": "eorþan sealt"
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          "word": "ملح"
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          "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
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          "word": "sal de la tierra"
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          "word": "Jordens salt"
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      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "ملح الأرض"
    },
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      "code": "xcl",
      "lang": "Old Armenian",
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      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "աղ երկրի"
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      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "sal de la terra"
    },
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      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "hǎorén",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "好人"
    },
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      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "kunnon ihminen"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "maan suola"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "sel de la Terre"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Salz der Erde"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "מלח הארץ"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "sale della terra"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "地の塩"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "roman": "sesang'ui sogeum",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "세상의 소금"
    },
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      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "sal terrae"
    },
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      "lang": "Old English",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "eorþan sealt"
    },
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      "code": "ota",
      "lang": "Ottoman Turkish",
      "roman": "milh",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "ملح"
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      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "sól ziemi"
    },
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      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "sal da terra"
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      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "sarea pământului"
    },
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      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "solʹ zemlí",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "соль земли́"
    },
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      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "sal de la tierra"
    },
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      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "Jordens salt"
    },
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      "code": "th",
      "lang": "Thai",
      "roman": "glʉʉa-hɛ̀ng-lôok",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "เกลือแห่งโลก"
    },
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      "code": "th",
      "lang": "Thai",
      "roman": "glʉʉa-hɛ̀ng-pɛ̀n-din-lôok",
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      "word": "คนดี"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "a decent, dependable person",
      "word": "halen y ddaear"
    }
  ],
  "word": "salt of the earth"
}

Download raw JSONL data for salt of the earth meaning in English (6.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.