The state or quality of being without index or indicator in chemistry, referring to substances lacking characteristic reactions.
From Latin 'acidus' (sour) negated with prefix, though the modern sense developed in early 20th-century chemical terminology to describe compounds without specific identifying properties.
Chemists invented this word to solve a real problem: how do you name compounds that stubbornly refuse to show the usual chemical signatures that help you identify them? It's chemistry's way of saying 'this thing is boringly generic.'
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