| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| aqua regia |
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| SYLLABICATION: | aqua re·gi·a |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  r  j- , rj |
| NOUN: | A corrosive, fuming, volatile mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids, used for testing metals and dissolving platinum and gold. Also called nitrohydrochloric acid. | | ETYMOLOGY: | New Latin aqua rgia : Latin aqua, water + Latin rgia, feminine of rgius, royal (because it dissolves gold, the “royal metal”).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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