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Talk Talk - Communication terms Category: General technical and industrial Date & country: 28/05/2010, UK Words: 18630

satellite
Click images to enlargeAny small body that orbits a larger one. Natural satellites that orbit planets are called moons. The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched into orbit around the Earth by the USSR in 1957. Artificial satellites can transmit data from one place on Earth to another, or from space to Earth...

sap
Fluids that circulate through vascular plants, especially woody ones. Sap carries water and food to plant tissues. Sap contains alkaloids, protein, and starch; it can be milky (as in rubber trees), resinous (as in pines), or syrupy (as in maples)

saprotroph
Organism that feeds on the excrement or the dead bodies or tissues of others. They include most fungi (the rest being parasites); many bacteria and protozoa; animals such as dung beetles and vultures; and a few unusual plants, including several orchids. Saprotrophs cannot make food for themselves, so they are a type of heterotroph. They...

satrap
Title of a provincial governor in ancient Persia. Under Darius I, the Persian Empire was divided between some 20 satraps, each owing allegiance only to the king

salt, common
White crystalline solid, found dissolved in seawater and as rock salt (the mineral halite) in large deposits and salt domes. Common salt is used extensively in the food industry as a preservative and for flavouring, and in the chemical industry in the making of chlorine and sodium

sandstone
Click images to enlargeSedimentary rocks formed from the consolidation of sand, with sand-sized grains (0.0625–2 mm/0.0025–0.08 in) in a matrix or cement. Their principal component is quartz. Sandstones are commonly permeable and porous, and may form freshwater aquifers. They are mainly used as building ...

Savoy
Area of France between the Alps, Lake Geneva, and the River Rhône. A medieval duchy, it was made into the départements of Savoie and Haute-Savoie, in the Rhône-Alpes region. History Savoy was a duchy from the 14th century, with the capital Chambéry. In 1720 it became a province of the kingdom of Sardin...

saturated solution
In physics and chemistry, a solution obtained when a solvent (liquid) can dissolve no more of a solute (usually a solid) at a particular temperature. Normally, a slight fall in temperature causes some of the solute to crystallize out of solution. If this does not happen the phenomenon is called supercooling, and the solution is said to be supersatu...

safety lamp
Portable lamp designed for use in places where flammable gases such as methane may be encountered; for example, in coal mines. The electric head lamp used as a miner's working light has the bulb and contacts in protected enclosures. The flame safety lamp, now used primarily for gas detection, has the wick enclosed within a strong glass cyli...

Saarinen, Eero
Finnish-born US architect. He was renowned for his wide range of innovative modernist designs, experimenting with different structures and shapes. His works include the US embassy, London (1955–61); the TWA terminal at John F Kennedy Airport, New York City (1956–62); and Dulles Airport, Washington, DC (1958–63). He collab...

Saarinen,
(Gottlieb) Finnish-born US architect and town planner. He founded the Finnish Romantic school. His best-known European project is the Helsinki railway station (1905–14). In 1923 he emigrated to the USA, where he is remembered for his designs for the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Blo...

Saarland
Administrative region (German Land) in southwest Germany, bordered by Rhineland-Palatinate and the French département of Moselle; area 2,570 sq km/992 sq mi; population (2003 est) 1,066,600. Formerly called the Saar or the Saar Territory, the region is highly industrialized, with a large ir...

Sabah
Self-governing state of the federation of Malaysia, occupying northeast Borneo, forming (with Sarawak) East Malaysia; area 73,613 sq km/28,415 sq mi; population (2000 est) 2,449,400. The capital is Kota Kinabalu. The state has considerable mineral wealth, including tin, antimony, diamonds, iron, and sulphur, but development has been...

Sabbath
The seventh day of the week, commanded by God in the Old Testament as a sacred day of rest after his creation of the world; in Judaism, from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday; in Christianity, Sunday (or, in some sects, Saturday). Keeping the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments. Some Christians regard Sunday as the first day of the week b...

Sabine
Member of an ancient people of central Italy, conquered by the Romans and amalgamated with them in the 3rd century BC. The so-called rape of the Sabine women – a mythical attempt by Romulus in the early days of Rome to carry off the Sabine women to colonize the new city – is frequently depicted in art

saccharin
Sweet, white, crystalline solid derived from coal tar and substituted for sugar. Since 1977 it has been regarded as potentially carcinogenic. Its use is not universally permitted and it has been largely replaced by other sweetening agents

Sacco–Vanzetti case
Murder trial in Massachusetts, USA, 1920–21. Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco (1891–1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888–1927) were convicted of murder during an alleged robbery. The conviction was upheld on appeal, with application for retrial denied. Prolonged controversy delayed execution until 1927. In 1977 the verdict was declared...

Sackville, Thomas
English poet and politician. He collaborated with Thomas Norton on Ferrex and Porrex (1561), afterwards called Gorboduc. Written in blank verse, this was one of the earliest English tragedies. He also contributed to the influential Mirror for Magistrates, intended as a continuation of John Ly...

sacrament
In Christian usage, observances forming the visible sign of inward grace. In the Roman Catholic Church there are seven sacraments: baptism, Holy Communion (Eucharist or Mass), confirmation, rite of reconciliation (confession and penance), holy orders (ordination), matrimony, and the anointing of the sick (last rites)

Sacramento
(city) Capital and deep-water port of California, in Sacramento County, 130 km/80 mi northeast of San Francisco; population (2000 est) 407,000. Situated in Central Valley, the city lies on the Sacramento River as it curves towards San Francisco Bay. It is the commercial, manufactur...

Sadat,
(Muhammad) Egyptian politician, president 1970–81. Succeeding Nasser as president in 1970, he restored morale by his handling of the Egyptian campaign in the 1973 war against Israel. In 1974 his plan for economic, social, and political reform to transform Egypt was unanimously adopted in ...

Sadducee
Member of the ancient Hebrew political party and sect of Judaism that formed in pre-Roman Palestine in the 1st century BC. They were the group of priestly aristocrats in Jerusalem until the final destruction of the Temple in AD 70. They opposed the Pharisees and favoured Hellenization. They stood for the hereditary high priesthood, the Temple, ...

Sadowa, Battle of
Prussian victory over the Austrian army 13 km/8 mi northwest of Hradec Kralove (German Königgrätz) 3 July 1866, ending the Seven Weeks' War. It confirmed Prussian hegemony over the German states and led to the formation of the North German Confederation 1867. It is named after the nearby village of Sadowa (Czech Sadová) in th...

saga
Prose narrative written down in the 11th–13th centuries in Norway and Iceland. The sagas range from family chronicles, such as the Landnamabok of Ari (1067–1148), to legendary and anonymous works such as Njal's Saga (c. 1280). The term `saga` is generally applied to an...

Sahara
Largest desert in the world, occupying around 9,065,000 sq km/3,500,000 sq mi of north Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, with an interruption in the fertile Nile valley, covering: most of Egypt; part of west Sudan; large parts of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Chad; and southern parts of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya...

Sahel
Marginal area to the south of the Sahara, from Senegal to Somalia, which mostly has a thin natural vegetation of savannah grasses and shrubs and whose people live by herding, often nomadic, and by the cultivation of millet and ground nuts. The Sahel experiences desert-like conditions during periods of low rainfall and there are signs of progres...

Saigon
Former name (to 1976) of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Saigon, Battle of
During the Vietnam War, battle 29 January–23 February 1968, when 5,000 Vietcong were expelled by South Vietnamese and US forces. The city was finally taken by North Vietnamese forces 30 April 1975, after South Vietnamese withdrawal from the central highlands

saint
Holy man or woman respected for his or her wisdom, spirituality, and dedication to their faith. Within the Roman Catholic Church the pope officially recognizes a saint through canonization. Many saints are associated with miracles, and canonization usually occurs after a thorough investigation of their lives and the miracles attributed to them. A p...

Saint-Saëns,
(Charles) French composer, pianist, and organist. Saint-Saëns was a master of technique and a prolific composer. He wrote many lyrical Romantic pieces and symphonic poems. He is well known for the opera Samson et Dalila (1877), which was prohibited on the French sta...

Sakhalin
(island) Island in the Russian Far East between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan, separated from the mainland of the Russian Federation by the Tatar Strait and from the northernmost island of Japan, Hokkaido, by La Pérouse Strait. Sakhalin is some 965 km/600 mi long and covers ...

Sakkara
Village in Egypt, 16 km/10 mi south of Cairo, with 20 pyramids. The oldest of these (third dynasty) is the `Step Pyramid` designed by Imhotep, whose own tomb here was the nucleus of the Aesklepieion, a centre of healing in the ancient world

Saladin
Click images to enlargeKurdish conqueror of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Saladin believed in jihad (holy war) – the Muslim equivalent of the crusades. He conquered Syria 1174–87, and recovered Jerusalem from the Christians in 1187, sparking the Third Crusade (1191–92). The Christian army, headed by Philip II o...

Salamanca, Battle of
During the Peninsular War, victory 22 July 1812 of the British led by the Duke of Wellington over the French under Marshal Auguste Marmont. The battle took place to the south of Salamanca, 170 km/105 mi northwest of Madrid

Salamis, Battle of
In the Persian Wars, sea battle fought in the Strait of Salamis west of Athens, Greece, in 480 BC between the Greeks and the invading Persians. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Greeks inflicted a crushing defeat on the invading Persians which effectively destroyed their fleet

Salazar, António de Oliveira
Portuguese prime minister 1932–68 who exercised a virtual dictatorship. During World War II he maintained Portuguese neutrality but fought long colonial wars in Africa (Angola and Mozambique) that impeded his country's economic development as well as that of the colonies. A corporative constitution on the Italian model was introduced in 19...

Salem
Capital of Oregon, in Marion County (of which it is administrative headquarters) and Polk County, on the Willamette River, 84 km/53 mi south of Portland; population (2000 est) 136,900. It is a distribution and processing centre for timber from the Cascades forests to the east, and fruit and vegetables from the fertile Willamette farmlands. ...

Salford
Industrial city in Greater Manchester, northwest England, on the west bank of the River Irwell and the Manchester Ship Canal; population (2001) 72,800. Industries include engineering and the manufacture of electrical goods and textiles. History Mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 923, Salford was a place of some importance in the Angl...

Salieri, Antonio
Italian composer. He taught Beethoven, Schubert, Hummel, and Liszt, and was the musical rival of Mozart at the emperor's court in Vienna, where he held the position of court composer. It has been suggested, without proof, that he poisoned Mozart

Salinger, J(erome) D(avid)
US writer. He wrote the classic novel of mid-20th-century adolescence The Catcher in the Rye (1951). He developed his lyrical Zen themes in Franny and Zooey (1961), Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). Some of his best short...

Salisbury
(UK) City and market town in Wiltshire, south England, on the edge of Salisbury Plain 135 km/84 mi southwest of London; population (2001) 44,400. Salisbury is an agricultural centre, and industries include brewing and engineer...

Salisbury Plain
Undulating plateau between Salisbury and Devizes in Wiltshire, southwest England; area 775 sq km/300 sq mi. It rises to 235 m/770 ft in Westbury Down. Since the mid-19th century it has been a military training area. Stonehenge stands on Salisbury Plain

Salk, Jonas Edward
US physician and microbiologist. In 1954 he developed the original vaccine that led to virtual eradication of paralytic polio in industrialized countries. He was director of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, University of California, San Diego, 1963–75

Sallust, Gaius Sallustius Crispus
Roman historian. He served under Julius Caesar in Gaul (France) and during the civil war, but retired from public life after a scandal involving his governorship of Africa. He wrote histories of the Catiline conspiracy and the Jugurthine War, as well as a Roman history of which only fragments survive

Salop
Abbreviation and former official name (1972–80) of Shropshire, a county in England

Salt Lake City
Capital of Utah, seat of Salt Lake County, on the River Jordan, 605 km/378 mi northwest of Denver, Colorado; population (2000 est) 181,700. It is the commercial centre and world capital of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church). Industries include service, government, and trade. Copper, silver, lead, zin...

Salvador
Port, resort, and naval base, capital of Bahía federal unit (state), northeast Brazil, on the inner side of a peninsula separating Todos los Santos Bay from the Atlantic Ocean; population (2000 est) 2,439,900; metropolitan area (2000 est) 3,018,300. Chief industries include oil refining, petrochemicals, cigar-making, and tourism...

Salvador, El
Republic in Central America; see El Salvador

Salvation Army
Christian evangelical, social-service, and social-reform organization, originating in 1865 in London with the work of William Booth. Originally called the Christian Revival Association, it was renamed the East London Christian Mission in 1870 and from 1878 has been known as the Salvation Army...

Salzburg
(city) Click images to enlargeCapital of the federal state of Salzburg, west Austria, on the River Salzach; population (2001) 142,700. There are textile industries, and stock rearing, dairy farming, forestry, tourism, and the manufacture of...

Samaria
Region of ancient Israel. The town of Samaria (now Sebastiyeh) on the west bank of the River Jordan was the capital of Israel in the 10th–8th centuries BC. It was renamed Sebarte in the 1st century BC by the Roman administrator Herod the Great. Extensive remains have been excavated

Samaritan
Members or descendants of the colonists forced to settle in Samaria (now northern Israel) by the Assyrians after their occupation of the ancient kingdom of Israel 722 BC. Samaritans adopted a form of Judaism, but adopted only the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses of the Old Testament, and regarded their temple on Mount Gerizim as the true sanctua...

Samarkand
(city) City in eastern Uzbekistan, capital of Samarkand wiloyat (region), near the River Zerafshan, 217 km/135 mi east of Bukhara; population (1999) 362,300. Industries include cotton-ginning, silk manufacture, production of foodstuffs, and engineering, especially the manufacture o...

Samarra
Ancient town in Iraq, on the River Tigris, 105 km/65 mi northwest of Baghdad; population (1998 est) 126,500. Founded in 836 by the Abbasid caliph Motassim, it was the Abbasid capital until 892 and is a place of pilgrimage for Shiite Muslims. It is one of the largest archaeological sites in the world, and includes over 6,000 separate sites. ...

Samoa
(island) Volcanic island chain in the southwestern Pacific. It is divided into Samoa and American Samoa

Samoa, American
Group of islands 4,200 km/2,610 mi south of Hawaii, administered by the USA; area 200 sq km/77 sq mi; population (2000 est) 57,300. The capital is Pago Pago. Exports include canned tuna (over 90% of exports), handicrafts, and copra. The main languages are Samoan and English; the principal religion is Christianity

Samson
In the Old Testament, a hero of Israel. He was renowned for exploits of strength against the Philistines, which ended when his lover Delilah had his hair, the source of his strength, cut off, as told in the Book of Judges

Samara
(city) Capital city and river port of Samara oblast (region), west-central Russian Federation; population (2002) 1,157,900. Samara is located on the River Volga and the main Trans-Siberian Railway, 820 km/510 mi southeast of Moscow. It is a major industrial centre, with large h...

satellite town
New town planned and built to serve a particular local industry, or as a dormitory or overspill town for people who work in a nearby metropolis. New towns in Britain include Port Sunlight near Birkenhead (Cheshire), built to house workers at Lever Brothers soap factories. More recent examples include Welwyn Garden City 1948, Cumbernauld 1955, and M...

Saul
(biblical) In the Old Testament, the first king of Israel. He was anointed by Samuel and warred successfully against the neighbouring Ammonites and Philistines, but fell from God's favour in his battle against the Amalekites. He became jealous and suspicious of David and turned against him...

sadism
Tendency to derive pleasure (usually sexual) from inflicting physical or mental pain on others. The term is derived from the Marquis de Sade

Sarney
(Costa) Brazilian politician, member of the centre-left Democratic Movement (PMDB), president 1985–90, chair of the senate 1996. Sarney was elected vice president in 1985 and within months, on the death of President Neves, became head of state. Despite earlier involvement with the rep...

Sayers, Dorothy L(eigh)
English writer of detective fiction, playwright, and translator. Her books, which feature the detective Lord Peter Wimsey and the heroine Harriet Vane, include classics of the detective fiction genre such as Strong Poison (1930), Murder Must Advertise (1933), The Nine Tailors (1934), and <...

satire
Genre of literary or dramatic work that ridicules human pretensions or exposes social evils. Satire is related to parody in its intention to mock, but satire tends to be more subtle and to mock an attitude or a belief, whereas parody tends to mock a particular work (such as a poem) by imitating its s...

Saxon
Member of a Germanic tribe once inhabiting the Danish peninsula and northern Germany. The Saxons migrated from their homelands in the early Middle Ages, under pressure from the Franks, and spread into various parts of Europe, including Britain (see Anglo-Saxon). They also undertook piracy in the North Sea and the English Channel. According to t...

San Marino
Small landlocked country within northeast Italy. Government San Marino has a multiparty, parliamentary political system. It has a single-chamber legislature, the Great and General Council, comprising 60 members, elected by universal suffrage, through a system of proportional representation in all nine administrative districts, for a five-ye...

Saudi Arabia
Country on the Arabian peninsula, stretching from the Red Sea in the west to the Gulf in the east, bounded north by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait; east by Qatar and United Arab Emirates; southeast by Oman; and south by Yemen. Government Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy with no written constitution, no legislature, and no political partie...

Samoa
Country in the southwest Pacific Ocean, in Polynesia, northeast of Fiji Islands. Government Samoa is an independent state within the Commonwealth. The 1960 constitution, which went into effect in 1962, provides for a parliamentary system of government, with a constitutional head of state, a single-chamber legislative assembly, the Fono, and a p...

Salamis
(Cyprus) Ancient city on the east coast of Cyprus, the capital under the early Ptolemies until its harbour silted up about 200 BC, when it was succeeded by Paphos in the southwest

sago
Starchy material obtained from the pith of the sago palm Metroxylon sagu. It forms a nutritious food and is used for manufacturing glucose and sizing textiles

savings and loan association
In the USA, a cooperative, mutual, savings organization that sells stock to its members. Created primarily to finance loans for home improvements, construction, and purchase, S&Ls at one time provided 40% of the funds for home purchases. In the late 1980s a crisis developed, with S&Ls making huge losses on unsecured loans. A federal bai...

Sanctorius, Sanctorius
Italian physiologist who pioneered the study of metabolism and invented the clinical thermometer and a device for measuring pulse rate. Sanctorius introduced quantitative methods into medicine. For 30 years he weighed both himself and his food, drink, and waste products. He determined that over half of normal weight loss is due to `insensible ...

SAS
Abbreviation for Special Air Service; also for Scandinavian Airlines System

Sargon II
King of Assyria from 722 BC, who assumed the name of his predecessor. To keep conquered peoples from rising against him, he had whole populations moved from their homelands, including the Israelites from Samaria

savoir-faire
(French) knowing what to do, how to behave

sanctuary
The holiest area of a place of worship; also a place of refuge from persecution or prosecution, usually in or near a place of worship. The custom of offering sanctuary in specific places goes back to ancient times and was widespread in Europe in the Middle Ages. Ancient history The ancient Hebrews established six separate towns of refuge, and t...

salat
The prayers that are the second of the Five Pillars of Islam, said five times a day. The first prayer is said before dawn and the last after dusk. Times for prayer are signalled by a muezzin (caller). Prayer must be preceded by wudu (ritual washing) and may be said in any clean place, facing qiblah, the direction of Mecca. Worshippers usually stand...

Satan
A name for the Devil

Sakyamuni
The historical Buddha, called Shaka in Japan (because Gautama was of the Sakya clan)

Sacred Thread ceremony
Hindu initiation ceremony that marks the passage to maturity for boys of the upper three castes; it usually takes place between the ages of five and twelve. It is regarded as a second birth, and the castes whose males are entitled to undergo the ceremony are called `twice born`

Sangha
In Buddhism, the monastic orders, one of the Three Treasures, or Three Refuges, of Buddhism (the other two are Buddha and the teaching, or dharma). The term Sangha is sometimes used more generally by Mahayana Buddhists to include all followers, including the Buddhist laity. Buddhists believe that living in an organized community with common spiritu...

sannyasin
In Hinduism, a person who has renounced worldly goods to live a life of asceticism and seek moksha, or liberation from reincarnation, through meditation and prayer

satellite television
Transmission of broadcast signals through artificial communications satellites. Mainly positioned in geostationary orbit, satellites have been used since the 1960s to relay television pictures around the world. Higher-power satellites have more recently been developed to broadcast signals to cable systems or directly to people's homes

SALT
Abbreviation for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, a series of US–Soviet negotiations 1969–79

San
(people) (Formerly Bushman) a small group of hunter-gatherer peoples living in and around the Kalahari Desert. Their language belongs to the Khoisan family

Sarawak
State of Malaysia, in the northwest of the island of Borneo; area 124,400 sq km/48,018 sq mi; population (2000 est) 2,012,600 (24 ethnic groups make up almost half this number). The capital is Kuching. The economy is based mainly on agriculture, and commercial crops include rubber, pepper, and sago. Rice is grown widely as a subsistence...

San Andreas Fault
Geological fault stretching for 1,125 km/700 mi northwest–southeast through the state of California, USA. It marks a conservative plate margin, where two plates slide past each other (see plate tectonics). Friction is created as the coastal Pacific plate moves northwest, rubbing against the American continental plate, which is moving slowl...

Salzburg
(province) Federal state of Austria, bounded by Bavaria to the northwest, Upper Austria to the north, Styria to the east, Carinthia to the south, and Tyrol to the southwest; area 7,154 sq km/2,762 sq mi; population (2001 est) 518,600. It lies mainly in the Salzburg Alps. Its capita...

San Pedro Sula
Main industrial and commercial city in northwest Honduras, near the Guatemalan border, capital of Cortés department and the second-largest city in the country; population (2001) 439,100. Situated in the fertile valley of the Ulúa River, and 45 km/28 mi south of the port of Puerto Cortés, it is a trading centre and key dis...

sacred cow
Any person, institution, or custom that is considered above criticism. The term comes from the Hindu belief that cows are sacred and must not be killed

saccharide
Another name for a sugar

Samsun
Black Sea port and capital of a province of the same name in northern Turkey; situated at the mouth of the Murat River in a tobacco-growing area; population (2000) 363,200. It is the site of the ancient city of Amisus

Salinas de Gortari, Carlos
Mexican politician, president 1988–94, a member of the dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). During his presidency he promoted economic reform, including privatization, and signed a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the USA and Canada in December 1992. However, he was also confronted with problems of drug trafficking...

Sassau-Nguesso, Denis
Congolese socialist politician, president 1979–92 and from 1997, and chair of the African Union 2006–08. He progressively consolidated his position within the ruling left-wing Congolese Labour Party (PCT), at the same time as improving relations with France and the USA. In 1990, in response to public pressure, he agreed that the PCT s...

Savimbi, Jonas Malheiro
Angolan soldier and right-wing revolutionary, founder and leader of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). From 1975 UNITA, under Savimbi's leadership, tried to overthrow the government. A peace agreement was signed in 1994. Savimbi rejected the offer of vice presidency in a coalition government in 1996; howeve...

Saw Maung
Myanmar (Burmese) soldier and politician. Appointed head of the armed forces in 1985 by Ne Win, he led a coup to remove Ne Win's successor, Maung Maung, in 1988 and became leader of a totalitarian `emergency government`, which remained in office despite being defeated in the May 1990 election. In April 1992 he was replaced as chair of...

sarcoma
Malignant tumour arising from the fat, muscles, bones, cartilage, or blood and lymph vessels and connective tissues. Sarcomas are much less common than carcinomas

salmonella
Any of a very varied group of bacteria, genus Salmonella, that colonize the intestines of humans and some animals. Some strains cause typhoid and paratyphoid fevers, while others cause salmonella food poisoning, which is characterized by stomach pains, vomiting, diarrhoea, and headache. It can be fatal in elderly people, but othe...

Sabin, Albert Bruce
Russian-born US microbiologist who developed a highly effective, live vaccine against polio. The earlier vaccine, developed by physicist Jonas Salk, was based on heat-killed viruses. Sabin was convinced that a live form would be longer-lasting and more effective, and in 1957 he succeeded in weakening the virus so that it lost its virule...

saponification
In chemistry, the hydrolysis (splitting) of an ester by treatment with a strong alkali, resulting in the liberation of the alcohol from which the ester had been derived and a salt of the constituent fatty acid. The process is used in the manufacture of soap