litmus

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

1495, earlier lytmos, from Old Norse litmosi (“moss used for dyeing”), from lita (“to dye, stain”), from litr (“colour, dye, blee”), from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz, *wlituz (“appearance, blee”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to see”) + mosi (“moss”). Cognate with Old English wlite (“appearance, form, brightness, countenance”). More at moss.

Noun

litmus (countable and uncountable; plural litmuses)

1. (uncountable) A dyestuff extracted from certain lichens, that changes color when exposed to pH levels greater than or less than certain critical levels.
2. A simple test of acidity in a liquid using litmus, usually in the form of litmus paper.
3. A simple test of any attribute; a litmus test.

Synonyms

• (dyestuff from lichen): lacmus

Derived terms

• litmus paper
• litmus test

Translations

dyestuff from lichen

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 石蕊 (cmn) (shíruǐ)

• Czech: lakmus (cs) m
• Finnish: lakmus (fi)
• French: tournesol (fr) m
• German: Lackmus (de) m

• Italian: tornasole (it) m
• Japanese: リトマス (ja) (ritomasu)
• Latin: lacmus (la)
• Polish: lakmus (pl) m
• Portuguese: tornassol (pt) m
• Russian: лакмус (ru) (lákmus) m
• Spanish: tornasol (es) m

Anagrams

• sultim