Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

aqua regia

/ˈɑː.kwə ˈɹeɪ.ɡi.ə/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 2.26 in modern English

Syllables: aqua re-gia
IPA: /ˈɑː.kwə ˈɹeɪ.ɡi.ə/

19

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A mixture of three parts concentrated hydrochloric acid to one part concentrated nitric acid, named for its ability to dissolve gold.

Archaic; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"Consider another example. If gold is placed in aqua regia then it dissolves. Aqua regia is a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids that dissolves gold or platinum. Observation of gold dissolving in aqua regia (argument 1 1) lends credence to the above conditional statement. Not placing the gold into aqua regia and gold not dissolving (argument 0 0) does not disprove the truth-value of this conditional."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin aqua rēgia (literally “royal water”), so named because it is one of the few solvents capable of dissolving noble metals.

Usage

Inflected Forms

A.R. (abbreviation)

Frequently Paired Words

regaline aqua fortis

Synonyms

aqua regis nitro-hydrochloric acid nitrohydrochloric acid

Questions

How do you pronounce aqua regia?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɑː.kwə ˈɹeɪ.ɡi.ə/.
What does aqua regia mean?: A mixture of three parts concentrated hydrochloric acid to one part concentrated nitric acid, named for its ability to dissolve gold.
Where does aqua regia come from?: Learned borrowing from Latin aqua rēgia (literally “royal water”), so named because it is one of the few solvents capable of dissolving noble metals.

How to pronounce aqua regia

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