Acids are substances that donate protons or, more broadly, accept electron pairs in reactions; in chemistry, they typically have a sour taste and turn blue litmus paper red. In everyday language, “acids” refers to multiple kinds of acidic substances. The plural form signals more than one acid or a general class of compounds.
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"The chemist prepared several acids for the catalytic experiment."
"Acids can react strongly with metals."
"Weak acids like acetic acid are common in food science."
"Safety protocols require handling acids with gloves and goggles."
The word acids comes from the Latin acidus, meaning sour, from acere, to sour, which itself traces to the Greek oxo- (acid, sharp, sour) roots? The historical development of the term was shaped by early alchemical and chemical contexts where substances with sour tastes were associated with acidity. In classical alchemy, substances encountered in reactions were described by their properties, including sourness, which linguistically linked to the idea of acidity. The modern scientific concept of acids as proton donors emerged with 18th- and 19th-century chemistry; Antoine Lavoisier and later Svante Arrhenius contributed to the definition, focusing on hydrogen or proton donation and, more broadly, ionizable hydrogen in solution. The word entered English through Latin and French descendants, becoming a standard term in modern chemistry, biology (acidic environments), and materials science. First known uses in English appear in the 14th- to 15th-century medical and alchemical texts, where sour-tasting substances were discussed as “acides” or “acdirs” in various spellings, evolving into the contemporary “acid” and its plural form “acids.”
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💡 These words have similar meanings to "acids" and can often be used interchangeably.
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Words that rhyme with "acids"
-ids sounds
Practice with these rhyming pairs to improve your pronunciation consistency:
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Pronounce as /ˈæs.ɪdz/. The first syllable has primary stress: AC-ids. The vowel in the first syllable is the short /æ/ as in cat, the second syllable uses a short /ɪ/. The final cluster is /dz/, a voiced alveolar affricate, produced by a quick /d/ release into /z/. Tip: start with an open jaw for /æ/, then move to a quick, crisp /d/+ /z/ at the syllable boundary. Reference: Cambridge/Oxford pronunciations show /ˈæs.ɪdz/.
Common errors include misplacing the stress (saying /ˈæ.siːdz/ with a long second syllable), confusing the /ɪ/ in the second syllable with a schwa, and softening the final /dz/ into a simple /z/ or an isolated /d/. Correction: keep primary stress on the first syllable, ensure the second syllable uses /ɪ/ rather than a reduced vowel, and articulate /dz/ as a quick, unit sound with a brief tongue gesture from /d/ to /z/. Practice slowly then speed up to maintain crisp /dz/ in fast speech.
In US and UK, /ˈæs.ɪdz/ is consistent, with rhoticity not altering the vowel much; UK may exhibit slightly more clipped final /dz/ and less pronounced r (not rhotic anyway). Australian speakers typically maintain /ˈæs.ɪdz/ but with a slightly more centralized /ɪ/ and faster transition into the final /dz/. The main divergence is vowel quality of /æ/ versus tense /æ/ and the strength of the /d/ release before /z/.
The difficulty lies in the final /dz/ cluster after a short first vowel. Some speakers insert an extra vowel or mispronounce the /d/ as a soft /t/ in rapid speech, producing /ˈæs.ɪtˈz/ or /ˈæs.ɪdz/ with varying length. Focus on the crisp /d/ release into /z/ as a single affricate, and maintain the short /æ/ in the first syllable to keep the stress pattern clear.
A unique facet is maintaining the tight, two-syllable rhythm with strong initial stress and a quick transition from /æ/ to /ɪ/ between syllables. The “ac-” portion should be compact, not elongated, and the /dz/ should be a fast, audible end, not a separate /d/ and /z/. This ensures the word lands as a single, crisp unit in fluent speech.
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