tornasole

Italian

tornasole comune (sense 1.2)

Etymology

From tornare (“to come back”, but here in the archaic sense “to turn”) +‎ sole (“sun”). Compare Modern Italian girasole. The sense “litmus” originated by the substance originally being taken from said plant. Compare French tournesol and Spanish tornasol.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tor.naˈso.le/
• Rhymes: -ole
• Hyphenation: tor‧na‧só‧le

Noun

tornasole m (countable and uncountable, plural tornasoli)

1. (countable)
   2. (archaic, dialectal) sunflower

      Synonym: girasole

   4. turnsole (Chrozophora tinctoria)
3. (uncountable, chemistry) litmus (substance)

   Synonym: (rare) laccamuffa

   cartina tornasole ― litmus paper

References

• tornasole in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• tornasole in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Further reading

• (sense 1.2): Chrozophora tinctoria on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^it
• (sense 2): tornasole on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^it

Anagrams

• rantolose, rosolante