salt-sensitive
|salt-sen-si-tive|
🇺🇸
/ˈsɔltˌsɛnsətɪv/
🇬🇧
/ˈsɒltˌsɛnsɪtɪv/
sensitive to salt
Etymology
'salt-sensitive' originates from Modern English as a compound of 'salt' and 'sensitive'. 'salt' originates from Old English, specifically the word 'sealt', where 'sealt' meant 'salt'. 'sensitive' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'sensitivus' (via Old French 'sensitif'), where 'sentire' meant 'to feel'.
'salt' changed from Proto-Germanic '*saltą' to Old English 'sealt' and remained as 'salt' in Middle and Modern English. 'sensitive' changed from Latin 'sensitivus' to Old French 'sensitif' and then to Middle English forms before becoming modern English 'sensitive'. The compound 'salt-sensitive' arose in modern usage (primarily 20th century) to describe biological or physiological sensitivity to salt.
Initially the components simply meant 'salt' and 'able to feel'; over time the compound came to mean 'showing sensitivity to salt' (applied to organisms, tissues, physiological responses, etc.).
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
easily harmed, affected, or showing a negative response to salt, often used for plants, soils, or materials that do poorly in saline conditions.
Salt-sensitive crops often show leaf burn or stunted growth when irrigated with saline water.
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Adjective 2
in physiology or medicine: having physiological responses (for example, blood pressure) that are significantly affected by dietary salt intake (e.g., salt-sensitive hypertension).
Some patients are salt-sensitive and experience increases in blood pressure after eating salty foods.
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Last updated: 2025/08/22 16:45