litmus

[Middle English litemose (of Scandinavian origin, akin to Old Norse litmosi, dyer's herbs : litr, color, dye + mosi, bog, moss) and Middle English lykemose (from Middle Dutch lijkmoes , variant of lēcmoes : lēken, to drip + moes, moss).]

A water-soluble dye extracted from certain lichens. It turns red under acid conditions and blue under alkaline conditions, the colour change occurring over the pH range 4.5–8.3 (at 25°C). It is not suitable for titrations because of the wide range over which the colour changes, but is used as a rough indicator of acidity or alkalinity, both in solution and as litmus paper (absorbent paper soaked in litmus solution).

For more information on litmus, visit Britannica.com.

An organic chemical indicator of acidity or alkalinity; is red in color for pH values below 4.5 and blue above 8.3.

In chemistry, a kind of paper used to tell whether a solution is an acid or a base. Acids turn blue litmus paper red; bases turn red litmus paper blue. Other testing paper or sophisticated instruments can be used to measure the pH of a solution more precisely.

A blue pigment prepared from Rocella tinctoria and other lichens.

• l. paper — absorbent paper impregnated with a solution of litmus, dried and cut into strips. It is used to indicate the acidity or alkalinity of solutions. If dipped into alkaline solution, it remains blue; acid solution turns it red. It is used to test urine and other body fluids; it has a pH range of 4.5 to 8.3.

Litmus or litmus test may refer to:

• Litmus test (chemistry), a common pH test
• Litmus (Mozilla), a test case management tool maintained by Mozilla
• "Litmus" (Battlestar Galactica), an episode in the first season of the television series
• Litmus test (language), an English colloquialism:
  • Any kind of social indicator used to classify someone either favorably or unfavorably
  • Litmus test (politics), a question asked of a potential candidate

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - lakmus

idioms:

• litmus paper    lakmuspapir
• litmus test    lakmusprøve, afgørende prøve

Nederlands (Dutch)
lakmoes

Français (French)
n. - (Chim) tournesol

idioms:

• litmus paper    papier tournesol
• litmus test    (Chim) réaction au papier de tournesol

Deutsch (German)
n. - Lackmus

idioms:

• litmus paper    Lackmuspapier
• litmus test    indikativer Test

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (χημ.) βάμμα ηλιοτροπίου

idioms:

• litmus paper    χάρτης ηλιοτροπίου
• litmus test    τεστ με βάμμα ηλιοτροπίου, (μτφ.) γνήσια δοκιμασία

Italiano (Italian)
tornasole

idioms:

• litmus paper    cartina tornasole
• litmus test    test al tornasole

Português (Portuguese)
n. - tornassol (m) (Quím.)

idioms:

• litmus paper    papel (m) de tornassol (Quím.)
• litmus test    teste (m) de papel de tornassol (Quím.)

Русский (Russian)
лакмус

idioms:

• litmus paper    лакмусовая бумага
• litmus test    лакмусовая реакция, безошибочный показатель

Español (Spanish)
n. - tornasol

idioms:

• litmus paper    papel de tornasol
• litmus test    prueba definitiva o contundente, prueba de acidez o de tornasol

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - lackmus

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
石蕊

idioms:

• litmus paper    石蕊试纸
• litmus test    石蕊试验, 试金石立见分晓的检验办法

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 石蕊

idioms:

• litmus paper    石蕊試紙
• litmus test    石蕊試驗, 試金石立見分曉的檢驗辦法

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 리트머스(산성도 시험용)

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - リトマス

idioms:

• litmus paper    リトマス試験紙
• litmus test    リトマス試験

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) صبغه عباد الشمس‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮צבע המאדים במגע עם חומצה ומכחיל במגע עם בסיס, לקמוס‬

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