In chemistry, describing a substance that can act as both an acid and a base depending on what it's reacting with.
From Greek 'amphi' (both) + 'protic' (from 'proton'), a chemistry term developed in the early 1900s as scientists understood molecular behavior better.
Water is amphiprotic—it can steal a proton from an acid or give one to a base—which is why water is the perfect mediator in almost every chemical reaction that matters to life.
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