Oplos

Oplos is not typically listed as a standalone word in contemporary Dutch dictionaries. It is mostly encountered as a morphological root in related words or as an informal abbreviation derived from the verb oplossen (to dissolve or to solve) or from the noun oplossing (a solution). In formal writing, the full forms oplossing and oplossen are preferred.

In scientific and everyday contexts, oplossing denotes a homogeneous mixture of a solute in a solvent. The root oplos- also appears in related adjectives and verbs, such as oplosbaar (soluble) and oplossen (to dissolve or to solve). The use of oplos- in these forms carries both the physical sense (dissolving substances) and the abstract sense (solving a problem).

Etymology and usage notes: oplos originates from the prefix op- combined with losen, the sense evolving from “untying” or “loosening” to the modern meanings of dissolving and solving. As a standalone lexical item, oplos is primarily a linguistic or pedagogical shorthand rather than a standard dictionary entry, and its meaning depends on the surrounding word form.

See also: oplossen, oplossing, oplosmiddel, oplosbaarheid, soluble.