English → Latin
“acid” in Latin
acidussour, tart, acid, bitter; harsh, grating, rough, shrill; disagreeable, unpleasant; sharp, keen, pungent; sharp-tonguedperacerbusvery harsh, bitter, sour; very painfulacerbusharsh, bitter, unripe, sour, premature, not yet marriageable; sharp, severe, bitter (i.e., extremely painful); rough, viperācervery sharpācersharp, sour, bitter, pungent; keen, sharp, acute, sagacious; energetic, active, vigorousacermaple tree
The English word acid itself goes back to Latin aceō, through acidus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
acid
acidus (opposed to dulcis: sour to taste or smell). (The words are found in this connection and order), acer acidusque. Somewhat acid, acidulus, subacidus. Very acid, acidissimus, peracerbus, acerbissimus, peracer, acerrimus: malum acidum = an apple sour, though ripe; malum acerbum, an apple sour, because unripe. To be acid, acere, acidum, or acerbum, or acrem esse gustatu. To be turning acid, acescere, coacescere. Vid: SOUR.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for acid?
- The usual Latin words for “acid” are acidus, peracerbus, acerbus; also perācer, ācer, acer. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.