skābums

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]

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skābums m (1st declension)

1. 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

• skābe
• skābeklis
• skābs
• skābt, skābēt