means A sweet, fizzy carbonated soft drink, often flavored and sugary, sold in cans, bottles, or fountains.

from From 'soda water,' which got its name from 'soda' the alkaline compound (sodium carbonate and its kin) once used to make the water fizz. 'Soda' itself traces through Medieval Latin, possibly from Arabic 'suwwad,' a name for the saltwort plants whose ashes yielded the stuff. So the bubbly drink is named, distantly, after a scrubby seaside weed burned for its salts — the chemistry came first, the sugar came later.