Summary Several terms have been used to desribe soil profiles and soil mantles in the strati‐graphic context. Many of these terms have serious defects, either because they have been used already with other meanings, e.g. ‘soil’, or because the concept embraces lithological or landscape properties, e.g. ‘ground surface’ or ‘pedomorpholith’. ‘Paleosol’ for the soil profile or individual soil, and ‘pedoderm’ for the soil mantle unit, separate from landform or parent rock, should be used in any discussion of the soil element in soil stratigraphy. Examples of earlier and current use of the pedoderm concept are presented.