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Glite Dictionary
sal ammoniac

sal ammoniac

1 9.9
A white salt used in old batteries, some medicines, and for cleaning metal
  • noun
  • /sæl əˈmoʊniˌæk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : cloruro de amonio
  • In the laboratory, we use sal ammoniac to create ammonium chloride solutions.

Examples

  • When mixed with water, sal ammoniac dissolves to form a clear solution.

  • The Committee on Chemistry also established and adjudicated prizes offered to manufacturers for the production in bulk of borax, bismuth, sal ammoniac, and other chemicals useful to the arts and industry.

    Academic text (2015)

  • -Sal ammoniac.

    Restoration (1995)

  • Sal ammoniac is often used in metalworking to help with the welding process.

Synonyms

ammonium chloride
vssal ammoniac
  • Specialized
1 4.6

A white salt used in some medicines, batteries, and chemical processes

is the same substance but also used in medicine and metalworking

Surface Forms

sal ammoniac singular
sal ammoniacs plural

Morphology

sal + ammoniac

The compound reads as a straightforward Latin-derived combination: 'sal' = salt and 'ammoniac' = pertaining to ammonia, so it literally denotes the 'salt of ammonia' (ammonium chloride). Although 'sal' is archaic/loaned and the form is scientific, the constituent meanings compose directly and the construction is cross-linguistically transparent, so a learner who knows both parts can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Sal ammoniac comes from an old name meaning 'salt of Ammon' because people found this white salt near the ancient temple of the god Ammon, so they named it sal meaning 'salt' and ammoniac meaning 'Ammon'. That's why today sal ammoniac is the name for the white salt called 'ammonium chloride' used in medicine and metalwork.