Simon please. You know what it means.

In 1909, Søren Sørensen introduced the concept of pH at the Carlsberg Laboratory,[5] originally using the notation "pH•", with H• as a subscript to the lowercase p. Sørensen did not explain why he used the letter p, and the exact meaning of the letter is still disputed

Not dumb at all, and always a mystery to me that strong acids weren't necessarily the most corrosive. The hydrogen/hydronium ion explanation (finally unveiled at A level) for this mysterious number was both enlightening and disappointing.

Grok is good for questions like this: The "p" originates from Danish biochemist Sørensen's 1909 definition, where it denotes "power" from German "Potenz" (or French "puissance"), as pH equals the negative base-10 logarithm of hydrogen ion concentration.

"potenz" is the original meaning, but operationally it means logarithm (of H concentration).

Power or potential

I was taught, pH = “power of Hydrogen” Mathematically, pH = −log₁₀(H⁺ activity), which explains the scale.

Pondus hydrogenii, and no, I didn't google it. It means "The power of hydrogen", which is what determines pH.

It's a mathematical operator that stands for "negative logarithm" (specifically -log to base 10). The "H" stands for Hydrogen, meaning pH literally measures the negative logarithm of hydrogen ion concentration.

As a Dane, I can proudly state that this was coined by the great Danish chemist Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen in 1909 P stands for power/exponent pH = -log10[H+] H is the hydrogen ion concentration. It also shows that, sometimes, giving 3 first names to a child can lead to fame.

Provocation

And you call yourself a scientist? 😉😁 'pH is a logarithmic scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Typically stands for "potential of hydrogen" or "power of hydrogen". It quantifies the concentration of hydrogen ions (H⁺) present in a substance'

It’s short for “probably Hydrogen.” Chemists weren’t sure at first

I imagine that this is engaging farming, but just in case. Although a lot of places say that it is disputed, I think that the right thing to do is to see how Sørensen introduced the term: "Die Größe der Wasserstoffionenkonzentration wird demgemäß durch den auf die Wasserstoffionen bezogenen Normalitätsfaktor der betreffenden Lösung ausgedrückt, und dieser Faktor wird in der Form einer negativen Potenz von 10 geschrieben. Indem ich übrigens auf einen folgenden Abschnitt verweise (s. S. 159), will ich hier nur anführen, daß ich den Namen „Wasserstoffionenexponent“ und die Bezeichnung pH· für den numerischen Wert des Exponenten dieser Potenz benutze." and later "*C*_p, das ja den Normalitätsfaktor der Lösung auf Wasserstoffionen bezogen oder, mit anderen Worten, die Zahl der Grammatome Wasserstoffionen pro Liter bedeutet, ist in den gesamten in dieser Abhandlung behandelten Fällen kleiner als 1 und kann gleich 10^{-p} gesetzt werden. Für die Zahl p schlage ich den Namen „Wasserstoffionenexponent“ und die Schreibweise pH· vor. Unter dem Wasserstoffionenexponenten (pH·) einer Lösung wird dann der Briggsche Logarithmus des reziproken Wertes des auf Wasserstoffionen bezogenen Normalitätsfaktors der Lösung verstanden." P. L. Sørensen, Enzymstudien. II. Mitteilung. Über die Messung und die Bedeutung der Wasserstoffionenkonzentration bei enzymatischen Prozessen. Biochemische Zeitschrift 21 (1909), pp. 131–304. But I am pretty sure you know all this.

I was taught that it stood for “Potential of hydrogen”

Theoretically, it means potential , as in potential Hydrogen ions. But some scientists think that is an oversimplification.

Potentia Hydrogenii

It’s not p, you just pronounce it “f” as in ele’pH’ant; basically short for frickin’. This water is pH (frickin’) 6,6. Ok to drink, but don’t expect much.

In modern chemistry, the p in pH stands for "the negative logarithm of," while H stands for hydrogen

Potential. Specifically of Hydrogen because Hydrogen ions determine the acidity or basic nature of a solution. Water splits into an equal balance of H+ & OH-, with a pH of 7 which is a neutral solution & therefore an apt control point.

Pico, as in picoHenry. An extremely small inductance.

The original meaning was never clearly defined by Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen when he introduced the pH scale in 1909. So nobody knows for certain.

Potenz (German) meaning “power”

pH = potential hydrogen

Doesn’t stand for anything now. It’s a mathematical operator for negative log… just as in pKa, pKb etc… but I’m sure you know that 😉😂

negativer dekadischer Logarithmus der H+-Konzentration

Penis, probably.

"power" - pH is a log10 function. Or so I was told back in the day

When Sorensen originally developed pH, he used “p” for all sorts of “functions”. It doesn’t “mean” anything.

Potential.

It measures how much you’re not going to stand for it being a basic b*tch, on a scale from 1 to 10 but some stuff got so basic b*tch lately it goes to 11 and then that wasn’t good enough so now it goes to like 14 or something.

potential/power

If i recall correctly, it stands for potenz, the German word for power. I only found this out myself quite recently, while writing an editorial with @bharath_IGC. And it is not a dumb question.

Great question. You have hundreds of people looking into this and learning chemistry along the way. Also, that consensus doesn’t mean unanimity, especially for something used around the world, but that scientists have found ways to agree despite linguistic differences.

And when you measure pH, like in a pool water test, you are measuring hydrogen ion activity

In pH, the “H” stands for hydrogen (specifically the hydrogen ion concentration, [H⁺]). The lowercase “p” is generally understood to stand for “power” (from the German Potenz, French puissance, or Danish potens), reflecting the mathematical definition