The title compound, C4H6N3O(+)·C5H3N2O4(-)·2H2O or Cyt(+)·Or(-)·2H2O, was synthesized by a reaction between cytosine (4-amino-2-hy-droxy-pyrimidine, Cyt) and orotic acid (2,4-dihy-droxy-6-carb-oxy-pyrimidine, Or) in aqueous solution. The two ions are joined by two N(+)-H⋯O(-) (±)-(CAHB) hydrogen bonds, forming a dimer with graph-set motif R2(2)(8). In the crystal, the ion pairs of the asymmetric unit are joined by four N-H⋯O inter-actions to adjacent dimers, forming hydrogen-bonded rings with R2(2)(8) graph-set motif in a two-dimensional network. The formation of the three-dimensional array is facilitated by water mol-ecules, which act as bridges between structural sub-units linked in R3(2)(8) and R3(2)(7) hydrogen-bonded rings. The orotate anion is essentially planar, as the dihedral angle between the planes defined by the carboxylate group and the uracil fragment is 4.0 (4)°.