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Where does the word "acid" come from? It comes from Latin acidus, and was adopted directly into English (1620s).
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Where does the word "acid" come from? It comes from Latin acidus, and was adopted directly into English (1620s).
Acid’s story begins in Latin: acidus meant “sour.” From 'acere', to be sour, the root of 'acerbic'. It reached English by 1620s as acid. The chemical sense dates from the 1600s; 'acid' as LSD from the 1960s; first recorded in 1626 in Francis Bacon's natural-history work 'Sylva Sylvarum'. Today, acid means a sour, corrosive chemical substance.
- Stage 1 · Latin · ancient acidus "sour", from 'acere', to be sour, the root of 'acerbic'.
- Stage 2 · English · 1620s acid "sour", the chemical sense dates from the 1600s; 'acid' as LSD from the 1960s; first recorded in 1626 in Francis Bacon's natural-history work 'Sylva Sylvarum'.