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aliquot

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 2:33 am
by Stargzer
I ran across this word whilst perusing an online Latin dictionary and remembered it from my undergraduate General Chemistry course waaaaaaayyyyyyyy back in my freshman year.
Latin:
aliquot : some, several.

General Chemistry:
aliquot: A sample of precisely determined amount taken from a material.

The EPA's definition:
aliquot

A measured portion of a sample taken for analysis. One or more aliquots make up a sample. (See: duplicate.) (Source: Office of Communications, Education, and Media Relations: Terms of Environment: Glossary, Abbreviations, and Acronyms (Revised December 1997) Term Detail)

A portion of a sample. (Source: State of New Jersey: New Jersey Field Analysis Manual Term Detail)

Portion of a sample. (Source: Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water: A Dictionary of Technical and Legal Terms Related to Drinking Water Term Detail)

American Heritage Dictionary:
aliquot

SYLLABICATION: al·i·quot
PRONUNCIATION: ăl' ĭ-kwŏt', -kwət
ADJECTIVE: Of, relating to, or denoting an exact divisor or factor of a quantity, especially of an integer.
NOUN: An aliquot part.
ETYMOLOGY: Latin aliquot, a number of, several : alius, some; see al-[sup]1[/sup] in Appendix I + quot, how many; see k[sup]w[/sup]o- in Appendix I.
Suggested Usage:

"I won't say that Noel Tungs' knowledge of Swedish is hard to measure, but it is just barely enough for an aliquot."

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 8:36 pm
by Slava
I'll stick with "smattering." Sorry to say, but aliquot just doesn't float my boat.

It does make it through the spell-checker, though.

Re: aliquot

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:19 am
by Slava
Okay, I'll admit I still have no clue as yet as to how to use this one in basic conversation. However, it is used in this recent article from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/news/science-a ... lanet-flea

A few re-reads and other examples, I may actually be able to grasp just what this word means. Using it will take another step or two, I'm afraid.

Re: aliquot

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:29 am
by Philip Hudson
Unless you are a scientist doing experiments, particularly a chemist, the word aliquot needen't float your boat. As a chemistry lab instructor, I used the word. As a mathematics teacher I used the word. I never thought to insert it into a general conversation. Some words are just too technical for general use.