pellucid

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The Word of the Day for May 31 is:

pellucid   \puh-LOO-sid\   adjective 
    *1 : admitting maximum passage of light without diffusion or distortion 
     2 : reflecting light evenly from all surfaces 
     3 : easy to understand 

Example sentence: 
     The coastal waters were clean and pellucid, allowing us to easily identify 
the marine life on the ocean floor.

Did you know? 
     "Pellucid" ultimately derives from the Latin "lucere" ("to shine"), which 
in turn contains the root "luc-" ("light"). "Pellucid" is formed from "per" 
("through") plus "lucidus" ("lucid, clear"). "Pellucid" has many shining 
relatives in English. Among the offspring of "lucere" are "translucent" 
(essentially, "clear enough to allow light to pass through"), "elucidate" ("to 
make clear, explain"), "lucent" ("luminous" or "clear"), and of course "lucid" 
itself (which can mean "shining," "mentally sound," or "easily understood"). 
Another related word is "Lucifer" (literally, "light-bearer"). Other relatives 
-- such as "lackluster" ("lacking brightness"), "illustrate" (originally, "to 
make bright"), and "lustrous" ("shining" or "radiant") -- trace from the 
related verb "lustrare" ("to brighten"). Clearly, "pellucid" is just one of a 
family of brilliant terms. 

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





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