salty

[ sawl-tee ]

adjective

saltier, saltiest.

1. tasting of or containing salt; saline.
2. piquant; sharp; witty.
3. racy or coarse:

   salty humor.

4. of the sea, sailing, or life at sea:

   salty tales of adventure on the high seas.

5. Slang. (especially of a sailor) toughened by experience:

   proud and salty Marines.

6. Slang. angry, upset, or hostile, especially due to embarrassment or failure:

   He gets all salty whenever he loses.

salty

/ ˈsɔːltɪ /

adjective

1. of, tasting of, or containing salt
2. (esp of humour) sharp; piquant
3. relating to life at sea

Derived Forms

• ˈsaltily, adverb
• ˈsaltiness, noun

Other Word Forms

• salti·ly adverb
• salti·ness noun
• over·salty adjective
• un·salty adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of salty¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; salt ¹, -y ¹

Example Sentences

Cornbread in any configuration that managed to hit sweet, salty, rich and warm all at once.

From Salon

When I try them, the flavour is overwhelmingly dominated by the salty peanut at the egg's core.

From BBC

The cheese debates could fuel a whole other conversation: mozzarella’s soft melt or the sharp, salty bite of parm or pecorino?

From Salon

Smelling salty sea water and dried-out seaweed makes me feel like I’m living a life worth living.

From Los Angeles Times

The groundwater in Amboy is about 10 times saltier than the sea, Large said, and for years, all drinking water has been trucked in.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• lively
• piquant
• pungent
• racy
• sharp
• tangy

About This Word

What else does salty mean?

Salty is a slang term for irritated, angry, or resentful, especially as a result of losing or being slighted. This sense of salty originates in and was popularized by Black English.

Where does salty come from?

The term salty has a long history of slang meanings, probably because of its association with sailors. In the 1860s, salty was a synonym for “racy” or “vulgar,” also a likely connection to (the popular reputation of) sailors.

By the 1920s–30s, salty is recorded in Black English as jump salty, meaning to become suddenly angry. The phrase jump salty stuck around well into the 1960s.

Owing in part to the influence of Black English on popular culture, salty has spread in the mainstream vernacular as a slang term for “bitter” and “upset,” e.g., He was salty I didn’t invite him to the party.

How is salty used in real life?

People who use the slang version of salty often use it to describe someone who is bitter or reacting sourly (emotions love taste metaphors) to something that made them upset—say, losing in a video game. And speaking of losing, slang terms or expressions that have a similar sense to salty include sore loser and butthurt.

Meghan McCain is just salty about Obama because somewhere in a closet she has a "first daughter" tiara that because of him she never got to wear it in public https://t.co/Bjv8kB0CtV

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) May 19, 2020

Don’t be salty with the results you didn’t get from the work you didn’t do

— 7 STREAMS OF INCOME (@aveclassse) May 12, 2020

Note

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.