Word of the Day

: September 17, 2020

limpid

adjective LIM-pid

What It Means

1 a : marked by transparency : pellucid

b : clear and simple in style

2 : absolutely serene and untroubled

limpid in Context

"She leaned toward him, entreaty in her eyes, and as he looked at her delicate face and into her pure, limpid eyes, as of old he was struck with his own unworthiness." — Jack London, Martin Eden, 1909

"Last summer, the edges of the Greenland ice sheet experienced up to three extra months of melting weather. Limpid blue pools formed on its surface; floods of melt gushed off the edge of the continent…." — Madeleine Stone, National Geographic, 7 July 2020

Did You Know?

Since around 1600, limpid has been used in English to describe things that have the soft clearness of pure water. The aquatic connection is not incidental; language scholars believe that limpid probably traces to lympha, a Latin word meaning "water." That same Latin root is also the source of the word lymph, the English name for the pale liquid that helps maintain the body's fluid balance and that removes bacteria from tissues.