acidity

English

Etymology

From French acidité, from Latin aciditātem, accusative singular of aciditās (“sourness, acidity”), from acidus (“sour, acid”). Equivalent to acid +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /əˈsɪdɪti/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /əsɪˈɖɪʈi/, /ˈasɪɖɪʈi/

Noun

acidity (countable and uncountable, plural acidities)

1. The quality or state of being acid.
2. Sourness; tartness; sharpness to the taste.

   the acidity of lemon juice

   Empty stomachs lead to acidity and leave a sour taste in the mouth.

3. (pathology) Excessive acid quality, as in gastric secretions.
4. (figurative) A caustic, sour, biting, or bitter quality.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "What shall we call it?" he asked. "Why should you not take the chance of perpetuating your own name?" said Summerlee, with his usual touch of acidity.

   • 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Time of Death”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 60:

     It was a brave, good speech, a speech from that staunch and strong spirit which lay behind all the acidities and angularities of the old zoologist.

Antonyms

• alkalinity
• basicity

Derived terms

• acidity function
• acidity regulator
• anacidity
• Hammett acidity function
• hyperacidity
• hypoacidity
• nonacidity
• subacidity
• superacidity

Translations

quality or state of being acid

Azerbaijani: turşuluq Belarusian: кісло́тнасць f (kislótnascʹ) Bulgarian: киселинност (kiselinnost) Catalan: acidesa (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 酸性 (zh) (suānxìng), 酸度 (zh) (suāndù) Czech: kyselost f, acidita (cs) f Dutch: zuurgraad (nl) m, aciditeit (nl) m Finnish: happamuus (fi) French: acidité (fr) f German: Acidität (de) f, Azidität (de) f Hindi: अम्लिमा (hi) f (amlimā) Hungarian: savasság (hu) Icelandic: sýrustig (is) n Indonesian: keasaman / tingkat keasaman Interlingua: aciditate Irish: aigéadacht f Italian: acidità (it) Japanese: 酸性度 (さんせいど, sansei-do), 酸度 (ja) (さんど, san-do) Kazakh: қышқылдылық (qyşqyldylyq) Khmer: អាស៊ីត (aazii tɑɑ) Kyrgyz: кычкылдуулук (kıckılduuluk) Maltese: qrusa f Odia: ଅମ୍ଳତ୍ବ (amḷatba) Ottoman Turkish: اكشیلك (ekşilik) Polish: kwasowość (pl) f Portuguese: acidez (pt) f Russian: кисло́тность (ru) f (kislótnostʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: киселост f Roman: kiselost (sh) f Spanish: acidez (es) f Swedish: surhet (sv) c Turkish: asidiklik, ekşilik (tr) Ukrainian: кислотність (uk) f (kyslotnistʹ) Urdu: تیزابِیَت f (tezābiyat)

quality of sourness to the taste

Arabic: حُمُوضَة f (ḥumūḍa) Dutch: zuurheid (nl) f Finnish: hapokkuus (fi), happamuus (fi) Georgian: სიმჟავე (simžave) Hindi: अम्लिमा (hi) f (amlimā) Irish: aigéadacht f Italian: acidità (it) Maltese: qrusa f Ottoman Turkish: اكشیلك (ekşilik) Persian: ترشی (fa) (torši) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: киселост f Roman: kiselost (sh) f Swedish: surhet (sv) c Turkish: asidite, ekşilik (tr)

pathology: excessive acid quality

Finnish: liikahappoisuus Irish: aigéadacht f Italian: acidità (it) Turkish: ekşilik (tr) Urdu: تیزابِیَت f (tezābiyat)

Anagrams

• adicity