pellucid

Definition

Allowing the passage of light; translucent or transparent.

Etymology

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin pellūcidus, perlucidus (“transparent, pellucid; very bright; very understandable”), from per- (prefix meaning ‘through; throughout; completely, thoroughly’) + lūcidus (“clear; full of light, bright, shining; (figuratively) easily understood, clear, lucid”) (from lūceō (“to shine; to become visible, show through; (figuratively) to be apparent, conspicuous, or evident”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to see; to shine”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives)). The noun is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Late Latin pellucidum (“transparent substance”) * Middle French pellucide (modern French pellucide (“pellucid”))

Example Sentences

• "Blood to the naked Eye appears all red; but by a good Microſcope, vvherein its leſſer parts appear, ſhevvs only ſome fevv Globules of Red, ſvvimming in a pellucid Liquor; and hovv theſe Globules vvould appear, if Glaſſes could be found, that yet could magnifie them 1000, or 10000 times more, is uncertain."
• "This Cryſtal is a pellucid fiſſile Stone, clear as VVater or Cryſtal of the Rock, and vvithout Colour; enduring a red Heat vvithout loſing its tranſparency, and in a very ſtrong Heat calcining vvithout Fuſion."
• "As a stream, clear and bright, becomes foul with weeds, and stagnates by its distant meanderings from its pure and pellucid source,—so the active imagination, the capacious intellect of Douglas, those high and valuable endowments, had, by an undue use of them, been perverted."

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