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salar

to salt

verb sah-LAHR Rare
Food & Drink Cooking

Usage Note

Salar means to add salt to food for flavouring or preservation. It is a regular -ar verb. In some Latin American varieties, particularly in the Río de la Plata region, salar also carries the colloquial meaning of 'to bring bad luck' to someone (derived from the old superstition that spilling salt brings misfortune). This 'jinx' sense is absent from Iberian Spanish, so the word can read very differently depending on regional context.

Examples

"No olvides salar el agua antes de hervir la pasta."

Natural Translation

Don't forget to salt the water before boiling the pasta.

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