alkali

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

French alcali, ultimately from Arabic القلي (al-qilī, “ashes of the saltwort”), from قلى (qalā, “to roast in a pan, fry”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈæl.kəl.aɪ/, SAMPA: /"{l.k@l.aI/
• (US) enPR: ălˈkəlī, IPA: /ˈæl.kə.laɪ/, SAMPA: /"{l.k@.laI/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

alkali (plural alkalies or alkalis)

1. (chemistry) One of a class of caustic bases, such as soda, potash, ammonia, and lithia, whose distinguishing peculiarities are solubility in alcohol and water, uniting with oils and fats to form soap, neutralizing and forming salts with acids, turning to brown several vegetable yellows, and changing reddened litmus to blue.
2. Soda ash; caustic soda, caustic potash, etc.
3. (Western United States) Soluble mineral matter, other than common salt, contained in soils of natural waters.

Synonyms

• (chemistry): base

Antonyms

• (chemistry): acid

Translations

class of caustic bases

Bosnian: baza (bs) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 鹼 (cmn), 碱 (cmn) (jiǎn)

Esperanto: alkalio (eo) Japanese: アルカリ (ja) (arukari), 塩基性 (ja) (えんきせい, enkisei) Oriya: କ୍ଷାର (or) Russian: щёлочь (ru) (ŝóloč') f.

Derived terms

• alkaline
• alkali metal

Related terms

• alkalied
• alkaloid

See also

• caustic
• pH

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Finnish

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑli

Noun

alkali

1. alkali

Declension

Declension of alkali (type paperi) singular plural nominative alkali alkalit genitive alkalin alkalien alkaleiden alkaleitten partitive alkalia alkaleita alkaleja accusative alkali alkalin alkalit inessive alkalissa alkaleissa elative alkalista alkaleista illative alkaliin alkaleihin adessive alkalilla alkaleilla ablative alkalilta alkaleilta allative alkalille alkaleille essive alkalina alkaleina translative alkaliksi alkaleiksi instructive – alkalein abessive alkalitta alkaleitta comitative – alkaleineen