aqua-, aquatic-, aqui-, aqu-, -aquatically, aque-, -aqueous

(Latin: water, watery solution)

alluvial aquifer (s) (noun), alluvial aquifers (pl)
An underground water supply which comes from porous rock, sand, gravel, etc.: The alluvial aquifer provided the community with ground water that made it possible for their wells and springs to continue functioning.
aqua (s) (noun), aquae (pl)
1. Water; especially, when used in the pharmaceutical industry as a solvent.
2. A liquid solution; especially, in water.
3. A light bluish green to light greenish blue; also, greenish blue, turquoise, cobalt blue, and peacock blue.

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.

—Mark Twain (1835-1910)
aqua exclusa (s) (noun) (no plural)
Water shut out: Aqua exclusa is Latin for a barrier to keep water out and is now known as a flood gate or a sluice."
aqua potabile
Water that is fit or suitable for drinking because of cleanliness and being uncontaminated.
Eternal Water Resource

The same glass of water you drink today could have also been drunk by Marie Antoinette or Cleopatra or Julius Caesar. In fact, no new water has been created since the beginning of time; 72% of the earth's surface has always been covered by water, and it is continually recycling itself through evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.

—"Tastings" by Jenifer Harvey Lang; as seen in Forbes, August 10, 1987.
aqua regia; aqua regalia (s) (noun)
1. Royal water: a fuming, highly corrosive mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids.
2. Another term for nitrohydrochloric acid.

Called "royal water" because of its power to dissolve gold.

Aqua regia is used for testing metals and dissolving platinum and gold.

aqua weed cutter (s) (noun), aqua weed cutters (pl)
A device attached to the bow of a boat that can cut and clear a wide path through a weed-choked lake.
aqua; aq.; a., (s) (noun); aquae, (pl)

A reference to an aqueduct that was used to supply water to the city of Rome. During the Republic, aqueducts, and the water supplied, were cared for by water companies hired under contract by the censors.

This abbreviation (aq.) is used with several adjectives that have applications for medical or pharmaceutical instructions:

  • aq. astr. (aqua astricta), frozen water
  • aq. bull. (aqua bulliens), boiling water
  • aq. com. (aqua communis), common water
  • aq. dest. (aqua destillata), distilled water
  • aq. ferv. (aqua fervens), hot water
  • aq. frig. (aqua frigida), cold water
  • aq. mar. (aqua marina), sea water
  • aq. pluv. (aqua pluvialis), rain water
  • aq. pur. (aqua pura), pure water
  • aq. tep. (aqua tepida), tepid water
aquabib (s) (noun), aquabibs (pl)
An individual who only drinks water: Shirley was never much of an aquabib because she usually preferred harder libations.

Some say Henry's an aquabib because they think he is addicted to water because he never drinks any other kind of liquid.

AQUABIT
An acronym based on the following words: Adaptive Quantizer for Acoustics Binary Information Transmission.

This naturally has no relation to aqua, "water".

aquacade (s) (noun), aquacades (pl)
1. An elaborate entertainment spectacle of swimmers and divers, often performing in unison to the accompaniment of music: The town decided to put on an aquatic exhibition, or aquacade, sometime during the summer months and hoped that it would be a big attraction for many people to come.
2. Etymology: from Latin aqua- + -cade, from Latin cavalcade.

Literally, "a procession on horseback", in the twentieth century, -cade came to be regarded as a suffix and taken to form such words as, motorcade, aquacade, etc.

aquacultural (adjective), more aquacultural, most aquacultural
1. A reference to the science, art, and business of cultivating marine or freshwater food fish or shellfish, such as oysters, clams, salmon, and trout, under controlled conditions.
2. Of or relating to aquiculture; "aquacultural methods"; "hydroponic lettuce".
aquaculture (s) (noun), aquacultures (pl)
The farming of ocean and freshwater plants and animals for human consumption; such as, fish or shellfish, algae, and other aquatic plants.

Mariculture is specifically marine aquaculture, and therefor is a subset of aquaculture. Some examples of aquaculture include raising catfish and tilapia in freshwater ponds, growing cultured pearls, and farming salmon in net-pens set out in a bay. Fish farming is a common type of aquaculture.

The area of the most intense aquaculture is found to be in southern Louisiana with over 125,000 acres (50,600 Hectares) of crayfish ponds.

—McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology; McGraw-Hill, Inc.;
New York; 1993; page 29.
aquafarm (s) (noun), aquafarms (pl)
A special kind of farm for growing plants (without soil) in water containing dissolved nutrients: "His aquafarm is well known by people in his community."
aquafarm (verb), aquafarms; aquafarmed; aquafarming
A technique of growing plants (without soil) in water containing dissolved nutrients: "Reggie was aquafarming vegetables for sale to stores."

"Bryan has aquafarmed for many years."

Aquafina (s) (noun) (no plural)
A non-carbonated bottled water produced by PepsiCo.

"The Aquafina water mainly comes from a municipal tap water that goes through an extensive purification process that includes charcoal filtration, reverse osmosis, and ozonation."

"Aquafina uses PepsiCo's own purification system, which it calls HydRO-7."

"PepsiCo states in its marketing material that this system removes substances that might be in other brands of bottled water."

Cross references of word families that refer to "water": hydat-; hydro-; hygro-.