does 辛い means both spicy and salty?


According to [this](http://jisho.org/search/%E8%BE%9B%E3%81%84),

[辛い]{からい} means both spicy and salty. Where I live we associate spicy with
pepper, not salt.

Is this something similar to the case of "ao", meaning both green and blue?
(or something in between them).

Are there words for differentiating foods with too much salt than foods with
too much pepper?




Yes, this is similar to [青 meaning
green](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/1066/5010).

**からい** in modern standard Japanese almost always means _spicy_ , but in the
old days this word safely also meant _salty_. ~~But somewhere in the past
(most) Japanese people noticed _spicy_ and _salty_ are clearly different
concepts, and started to use a different word for the latter; it's simply
**塩辛い**. (しょっぱい is another term for salty things.)~~ (This story was not very
strict. からい in archaic Japanese [primarily meant
_salty_](http://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E8%BE%9B%E3%81%97), but as this word
gained the meaning of _spicy_ , a different word, **塩辛い** , was made and
assigned to the original meaning. [A similar thing happened for
かわいい](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/25701/5010).)

I remember my grandmother, who was born in the 1920's in a rural area of
western Japan, often used からい for salty things, and she was also a person who
often used 青い for green things.

> ### から・い【辛い／×鹹い】
>
> １ トウガラシ・ワサビなどのように、舌やのどを強く刺激するような味である。「インド風の―・い料理」→五味 (ごみ)  
>  ２ （鹹い）塩気が多い。しょっぱい。「―・い煮つけ」⇔甘い。

(辛い read as つらい means a totally different thing, and it happens to be close to
_salty_ as in "salty experience", but I don't think it's important now.)

Apparently, in some dialects, 辛い and 塩辛い are still not distinguished in daily
life.

> ###
> [関西の方は「しょっぱい」ことを「からい」ということについて](https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1412523709)
>
> 京都市で生まれ育った者です。  
>
> ご指摘のとおり、私は「辛い」と「塩辛い」は言葉の上で区別しません。どちらも、「からい」です。おそらく周りの者もほとんどがそう話すように思います。意味は、既出のとおり文脈で判断します。ややこしい時は、「塩辛い」ということ？、というふうに確認し合うわけです。




Yes, this is similar to [青 meaning
green](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/1066/5010).

**からい** in modern standard Japanese almost always means _spicy_ , but in the
old days this word safely also meant _salty_. ~~But somewhere in the past
(most) Japanese people noticed _spicy_ and _salty_ are clearly different
concepts, and started to use a different word for the latter; it's simply
**塩辛い**. (しょっぱい is another term for salty things.)~~ (This story was not very
strict. からい in archaic Japanese [primarily meant
_salty_](http://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E8%BE%9B%E3%81%97), but as this word
gained the meaning of _spicy_ , a different word, **塩辛い** , was made and
assigned to the original meaning. [A similar thing happened for
かわいい](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/25701/5010).)

I remember my grandmother, who was born in the 1920's in a rural area of
western Japan, often used からい for salty things, and she was also a person who
often used 青い for green things.

> ### から・い【辛い／×鹹い】
>
> １ トウガラシ・ワサビなどのように、舌やのどを強く刺激するような味である。「インド風の―・い料理」→五味 (ごみ)  
>  ２ （鹹い）塩気が多い。しょっぱい。「―・い煮つけ」⇔甘い。

(辛い read as つらい means a totally different thing, and it happens to be close to
_salty_ as in "salty experience", but I don't think it's important now.)

Apparently, in some dialects, 辛い and 塩辛い are still not distinguished in daily
life.

> ###
> [関西の方は「しょっぱい」ことを「からい」ということについて](https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1412523709)
>
> 京都市で生まれ育った者です。  
>
> ご指摘のとおり、私は「辛い」と「塩辛い」は言葉の上で区別しません。どちらも、「からい」です。おそらく周りの者もほとんどがそう話すように思います。意味は、既出のとおり文脈で判断します。ややこしい時は、「塩辛い」ということ？、というふうに確認し合うわけです。

