A single order parameter resolves the enduring mysteries of water

Water exhibits dozens of anomalous properties that have resisted unified explanation for over a century. Here we show that many of these behaviours can be captured by a single four-component complex spinor order parameter Ψ describing collectively tunnelling protons within the tetrahedral hydrogen-bond network. Eight phenomenological coefficients—fixed once from neutron-scattering data and GHz–THz dielectric spectra—specify the static Landau functional and its non-Markovian dynamics. With no further adjustment the framework quantitatively reproduces the observed sequence of stable ice phases, the liquid–liquid critical point, the 4C density maximum, transport extrema, the 230K dielectric plateau, high-temperature vapour anomalies, the Mpemba crossover, and key interfacial behaviours (Jones–Ray minimum, Hofmeister ordering, air–water surface potential) using a single additional surface coefficient. This spinor-based description provides a coherent geometric mechanism linking water’s thermodynamic, transport, dielectric and interfacial anomalies, and offers a transferable template for other hydrogen-bonded liquids with implications for biochemistry and emerging quantum-enabled technologies.