A Salt Cellar Has Nothing to Do With Cellars
A cellar is an underground room. The salt cellar on the table is a different word that drifted into the same spelling.
A cellar is a room below ground, typically for storage. The salt cellar is an impostor: it comes from Old French *saliere*, a salt container, which English heard as *saler* and then respelled to match the familiar word. A salt cellar is a salt-holder that fell into the wrong spelling.
- An underground room. *A wine cellar.*
- A stock of wine. *An excellent cellar.*
- Salt cellar — a small salt container. *Pass the salt cellar.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | cellar | A damp cellar. |
| Plural | cellars | Deep cellars. |
| Compound | salt cellar | A silver salt cellar. |
| Related | basement | A converted basement. |
| Person | cellarer | The abbey cellarer. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The wine cellar stays cool year round.Storage.
- Pass the salt cellar.A different word entirely.
- They finished bottom of the cellar.American sport: last place.
Below-ground rooms
- Cellar — usually for storage, often only partly accessible
- Basement — a habitable floor below ground
- Crypt — beneath a church, often for burials
- Vault — an arched underground chamber
- Undercroft — a vaulted space beneath a building
From Old French *celier*, from Latin *cellarium*, a storeroom, from *cella*, a small room. The salt sense comes from unrelated *saliere*.
Cellar or basement?
A basement is a usable floor below ground level. A cellar is generally for storage and may have little natural light.
Why is it called a salt cellar?
By accident. The word came from French *saliere*, a salt dish, and was respelled to match the unrelated word cellar.