Meaning

noun the process of becoming softened and saturated as a consequence of being immersed in water (or other liquid)

noun washing something by allowing it to soak

verb submerge in a liquid

originFrom Middle English soken, from Old English socian (“to soak, steep”, literally “to cause to suck (up)”), from Proto-Germanic *sukōną (“to soak”), causative of Proto-Germanic *sūkaną (“to suck”). Cognate with Middle Dutch soken (“to cause to suck”). More at suck.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0