entry
aqua
/ˈækwə/water; also a blue-green color
From Latin aqua (water).
from PIE root *akwa- "water." The Latin word was used in late Middle English in combinations in old chemistry and...
from Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain,"
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from PIE root *akwa- "water." The Latin word was used in late Middle English in combinations in old chemistry and...
from Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain,"
+1 more sourceRoman alchemists loved a dramatic name, and aqua got promoted from plain old water to something far more dangerous. In medieval Latin, aqua vitae was the "water of life," a phrase that wandered into Gaelic as uisge beatha and eventually came out in English as whiskey — so your cocktail glass has a little Latin in its family tree. Then there was aqua regia, "royal water," the acid mix so fierce it could dissolve gold, as if humble water had put on a crown and turned tyrant. The same watery root keeps turning up in everyday words like aquatic, aquarium, and aqueduct, all of them carrying the same old splash from PIE *akwa-. By the 20th century, aqua had even become a color word, a cool blue-green you can practically see shimmering on a hotel brochure, proof that water never really stays just water.
The Story
Roman alchemists loved a dramatic name, and aqua got promoted from plain old water to something far more dangerous. In medieval Latin, aqua vitae was the "water of life," a phrase that wandered into Gaelic as uisge beatha and eventually came out in English as whiskey — so your cocktail glass has a little Latin in its family tree. Then there was aqua regia, "royal water," the acid mix so fierce it could dissolve gold, as if humble water had put on a crown and turned tyrant. The same watery root keeps turning up in everyday words like aquatic, aquarium, and aqueduct, all of them carrying the same old splash from PIE *akwa-. By the 20th century, aqua had even become a color word, a cool blue-green you can practically see shimmering on a hotel brochure, proof that water never really stays just water.
Kin & Kindred
From 'aqua'·water
Derived Terms
English words from this root