An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

Having sediment or foreign particles stirred up or suspended; obscured, muddy, such as turbid water.

From L. turbidus "muddy, full of confusion," from turbare "to confuse, disturb," from turba "turmoil, crowd," probably from Gk. tyrbe "turmoil;" cf. Pers. târ "dark, obscure, cloudy," Laki tur "balk, refractory, restive."

Târ "obscure, dark," variant târik "dark;" Mid.Pers. târig "dark," târ "darkness;" Av. taθra- "darkness," taθrya- "dark;" cf. Skt. támisrâ- "darkness, dark night," L. tenebrae "darkness;" Hittite taš(u)uant- "blind;" O.H.G. demar "twilight."

1) Meteo.: A measure of vertical extinction of solar radiation in the atmosphere. Turbidity is directly related to aerosol concentrations in the tropospheric and stratospheric layers. → visibility.
2) The cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by individual particles (suspended solids) that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air.

→ turbid; → -ity.