Aqua

How to spell aqua

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce aqua

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does aqua mean?

1. nounA light blue-green colour, like clear sea water.

Aqua in a sentence

• She painted the bathroom walls a soft aqua to match the tiles.

• The bridesmaids wore dresses in a pale shade of aqua.

Where does aqua come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is simply the Latin aqua, which literally meant 'water'. In ancient Rome it named everything from drinking water to the great aqueducts that carried it across the empire, and it survives today in a whole family of English words such as 'aquarium', 'aquatic', and 'aqueduct'. English took aqua directly for technical use in medicine and alchemy, where Latin labels like 'aqua vitae' (literally 'water of life', meaning spirits) and 'aqua regia' (a strong acid mix) were common from the medieval period onward. By the early twentieth century the word had also become a colour name, short for 'aquamarine', describing the pale blue-green of clear sea water. The spelling keeps the original Latin shape exactly, so the tricky part is remembering the 'qu' and the final 'a' rather than writing it the way it sounds.

How the word is built

• aqua (Latin root meaning water); a complete word borrowed whole, with no prefix or suffix