skābums
Latvian
Etymology
From skābs (“sour, acid”) + -ums. In the 1850s, K. Valdemārs tried to use skābums in the sense of “acid (chemical substance),” but without success: skābe, which already existed at the time, became the standard term for this sense.[1]
Pronunciation
Noun
skābums m (1st declension)
- sourness, acidity (the quality of that which is sour, acid in taste (but also in smell); a substance with acidic properties)
- šķīduma skābums ― solution acidity
- kuņģa sulas skābums ― the acidity of gastric juice
- nevarēju saprast, vai viņam tā šķobīt seju lika ogu skābums vai pēkšņa smieklu lēkme ― I couldn't understand if it was the sourness of the berries or the sudden laughter that made his face (look) so shaken
- augsnes skābums rodas galvenokārt dažādu mikrobioloģisku procesu rezultātā ― the acidity of the soil is a result of several microbiological processes
- mucām līdzi no pagraba atnākusi skābuma un pelējuma smaka ― together with the barrels from the cellar came a smell of sourness and mold
Declension
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | skābums | — |
| genitive | skābuma | — |
| dative | skābumam | — |
| accusative | skābumu | — |
| instrumental | skābumu | — |
| locative | skābumā | — |
| vocative | skābum | — |
Related terms
References
- ^ Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “skābt”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca [Latvian Etymological Dictionary][1] (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN