salty

Meaning

Adjective

• Tasting of salt.
• Containing salt.
• Coarse, provocative, earthy; said of language.
• Experienced, especially used to indicate a veteran of the naval services; salty dog (from salt of the sea).
• Irritated, annoyed, angry.
• Indignant or offended due to over-sensitivity, humourlessness, disappointment, defeat, or resentment; expressing indignation, disagreement, or hostility; bitchy.
• Pertaining to the Sardinian language and those dialects of Catalan, spoken in the Balearic Islands and along the coast of Catalonia, that use definitive articles descended from the Latin ipse instead of the Latin ille.

Origin

• From Middle English salti, equivalent to salt + -y.
• Compare Saterland Frisian soaltig, West Frisian sâltich, Dutch zoutig, German Low German soltig, German salzig.
• Referencing the sharp, 'spicy' flavor of salt.
• Perhaps implying the person is a crybaby, shedding salty tears, or derived from the preceding.