数学中，粘性解是20世纪80年代早期由Pierre-Louis Lions和Michael Crandall作为对偏微分方程（PDE）经典解的扩展而引入的。粘性解在PDE的许多应用中作为解是非常自然的，例如优化控制中的一阶偏微分方程（Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation），differential game中（Isaacs equation），前端演化问题（front evolution problem），还有二阶方程，例如在随机优化控制或随机微分博弈（stochastic differential game）中出现的。

In mathematics, the viscosity solution concept was introduced in the early 1980s by Pierre-Louis Lions and Michael G. Crandall as a generalization of the classical concept of what is meant by a 'solution' to a partial differential equation (PDE). It has been found that the viscosity solution is the natural solution concept to use in many applications of PDE's, including for example first order equations arising in optimal control (the Hamilton-Jacobi equation), differential games (the Isaacs equation) or front evolution problems, as well as second-order equations such as the ones arising in stochastic optimal control or stochastic differential games.