pellucid en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /pɛ-/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /pəˈlusɪd/ (General-American)
- /pɪˈl(j)uːsɪd/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Italic *per Latin per Proto-Indo-European *lewk- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *lowkéyeti Proto-Italic *loukeō Proto-Indo-European *lewk- Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *lukéh₁yeti Proto-Italic *l(o)ukēō? Latin lūceō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin lūcidus Latin pellūciduslbor. English pellucid 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”))
Meanings
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(literary) Allowing the passage of light; translucent or transparent.
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.
a. 1728 (date written), Isaac Newton, “[The Third Book of Opticks.] [Qu[estion] 25. Are there not other original Properties of the Rays of Light, besides those already described?]”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light. […], 4th edition, London: […] William Innys […], published 1730, →OCLC, page 329:The thick vegetation met overhead, interlacing into a natural pergola, and through this tunnel of verdure in a golden twilight flowed the green, pellucid river, beautiful in itself, but marvelous from the strange tints thrown by the vivid light from above filtered and tempered in its fall.
1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, “‘The Outlying Pickets of the New World’”, in The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, pages 119–120:The sea was shining like a sheet of glass, […] and the bright sea-weeds and the brilliant corals shone in the depths of that pellucid water, as we rowed over it, like rare and precious gems.
1857, Robert Michael Ballantyne, chapter XVI, in The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, published 1859, →OCLC, page 147: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.
1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 308–309:Most of the pool was quite shallow, but under the cliff where the beach was hollowed out it was four or five feet deep. It was to this part that a swimmer would naturally go, for it formed a beautiful pellucid green pool as clear as crystal.
1926 November 27, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane”, in The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published June 1927, →OCLC, page 255:You cannot think what figs / My teeth have met in, / What melons icy-cold / Piled on a dish of gold / Too huge for me to hold, / What peaches with a velvet nap, / Pellucid grapes without one seed: […]
1862, Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market”, in Goblin Market and Other Poems, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; London: Macmillan & Co., […], →OCLC, page 10: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.
1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of Our Complex Ideas of Substances”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book II, § 11, page 140:
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(figuratively, literary) Easily understood; clear.
[Y]ou never receive me apart from the grammar that establishes my availability to you. If I treat that grammar as pellucid, then I fail to call attention precisely to that sphere of language that establishes and disestablishes intelligibility, and that would be precisely to thwart my own project as I have described it to you here.
1999, Judith Butler, “Preface (1999)”, in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York, N.Y.; Abingdon, Oxon., published 2015, →ISBN, page xxvi:Written in spare, pellucid prose, the book reads like a close-to-the-bone memoir.
1994 November 13, Fritz Lanham, The Houston Chronicle, Houston, Tex.: Houston Chronicle Pub. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC:
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(figuratively, literary) Of music or some other sound: not discordant or harsh; clear and pure-sounding.
Opera star [Giorgio] Tozzi sings with the richness of burnished bronze and [Sharon] Daniels complements him with her pellucid soprano.
1979 October 22, T. E. Kalem, “Theater: Monopod”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Sep 2022:
- (figuratively, literary) Of a person, their mind, etc.: able to think and understand clearly; not confused; clear, sharp.
- (archaic, figuratively, literary) Easily recognized or seen through; apparent, obvious.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most pellucid | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| more pellucid | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |
Antonyms
opaque · adiaphanous · inapprehensible · unfathomable · tenebrose · abstruse · thick · Chinese · retruse · nonunderstandable · unknowable · inexplicable · Greek · ineffable · inscrutable · knotty · ungraspable · nontransparent · unintelligible · subtle · delicate · obscure · dense · opacous · tricky · insensible · fathomless · bottomless · nice · impenetrable · thick · mysterious · unexplainable · inenubilable · opacular · incomprehensible · undecipherable · ununderstandable · incognizable · insolvable · undiscoverable · enigmatic · insoluble
Deriveds
subpellucid · semipellucid · unpellucid · pellucidly · pellucidness
Relateds
zona pellucida · lucid · pellucidity · elucidate
Synonyms
plain as the nose on one's face · ostensible · bait · plain as a haystack · perspicuous · eyely · apparent · open-and-shut · hyaline · limpid · elucidate · conspicuous · transpicuous · clear · clear · perspicuous · clear as day · palpable · translucent · see-through · evident · plain · notable · pellucid · perspicuous · limpid · limpid · crystal clear · res ipsa loquitur · glaring · clear · explicable · diaphanous · fathomable · explicatable · clear as a bell · clear cut · clear as crystal · perspicuous · comprehensible · obvious · crystalline · lucid · plain as porridge · hyaloid · plain as a pikestaff · illuminable · lucid · explainable · undoubted · intuitive · apprehensible · plain as day · crystal clear · clear · arrant · decided · pellucid · plain as Salisbury · understandable · lucid · serene · straightforward · splendent · noticeable · vitreous · straightforward · cut and dried · prima facie · manifest · graspable · patent · plain as Dunstable highway · tangible · plain as print · intelligible · transparent · lucid · undissembled · blatant · glassy
Translations (15)
fi helppotajuinen (easily understood — see also clear) · pl przezroczysty (allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent) · es diáfano (easily understood — see also clear) · es cristalino (allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent) · la pellūcidus (allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent) · nl doorschijnend (allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent) · bg разбираем (easily understood — see also clear) · bg прозрачен (allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent) · es diáfano (allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent) · fi läpikuultava (allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent) · es transparente (allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent) · de durchsichtig (allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent) · de durchscheinend (allowing the passage of light — see also translucent, transparent) · fi puhdassointinen (of music or some other sound: not discordant or harsh) · fi selkeästi ajatteleva (of a person, their mind, etc.: able to think and understand clearly)