ephemeral

WOTD – 24 August 2007    

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From New Latin ephemerus, from Ancient Greek ἐφήμερος (ephēmeros), the more common form of ἐφημέριος (ephemerios, “of, for, or during the day, living or lasting but for a day, short-lived, temporary”), from ἐπί (epi, “on”) + ἡμέρα (hēmera, “day”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɛˈfɛ.mə.ɹəl/, /əˈfɛ.mə.ɹəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

ephemeral (plural ephemerals)

1. Something which lasts for a short period of time.

Synonyms

• (short-lived): ephemeron

Adjective

ephemeral (comparative more ephemeral, superlative most ephemeral)

1. Lasting for a short period of time.
   • 1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 9, Frankenstein^[1]:

     It was during an access of this kind that I suddenly left my home, and bending my steps towards the near Alpine valleys, sought in the magnificence, the eternity of such scenes, to forget myself and my ephemeral, because human, sorrows.

2. (biology) Existing for only one day, as with some flowers, insects, and diseases.
3. (geology, of a body of water) Usually dry, but filling with water for brief periods during and after precipitation.
   • 1986, W.H. Raymond, "Clinoptilolite Deposit in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, U.S.A.", in Yūichi Murakami et al. (editors), New Developments in Zeolite Science and Technology (conference proceedings), Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-444-98981-9, page 80:

     The graben constitutes a depositional basin and a topographic low, underlain by Cretaceous shales, in which volcanic debris accumulated in ephemeral lakes and streams in Oligocene and early Miocene time.

Synonyms

• (lasting for a short period of time): temporary, transitory, fleeting, evanescent, momentary, short-lived, short, volatile
• See also Wikisaurus:ephemeral

Antonyms

• (lasting for a long period of time): permanent, eternal, everlasting, timeless.

Derived terms

• ephemerally

Related terms

• ephemera
• ephemeron
• ephemerality

Translations

lasting for a short period of time

• Bulgarian: краткотраен (bg) (kratkotraen), мимолетен (bg) (mimoleten)
• Catalan: efímer (ca)
• Dutch: vergankelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: momenta (eo)
• Finnish: lyhytaikainen (fi), hetkellinen (fi), ohimenevä (fi)
• French: éphémère (fr)
• German: flüchtig (de), kurzlebig (de), vergänglich (de)
• Greek: εφήμερος (el) (efímeros), παροδικός (el) (paroðikós), πρόσκαιρος (el) (próskeros), βραχύβιος (el) (vrakhívios)
• Hungarian: kérészéletű (hu), efemer (hu)
• Icelandic: skammvinnur (is) m, skammær (is) m, skammlífur (is) m, hverfull (is) m
• Indonesian: bersifat sementara (id)

• Italian: effimero (it), passeggero (it), fuggevole (it), transitorio (it)
• Japanese: はかない (ja), 束の間の (ja)
• Korean: 재지 않는 (ko)
• Maori: rangitahi (mi)
• Polish: ulotny (pl) m, efemeryczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: efêmero (pt) m
• Russian: эфемерный (ru) (ef'em'érnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: ȅfemēran (sh), krȁtkotrājan (sh), prìvremen (sh)
• Slovene: kratkotrajen (sl) m, začasen (sl) m
• Spanish: efímero (es)
• Swedish: flyktig (sv), efemär (sv), förgänglig (sv)

existing for only one day

• Bulgarian: еднодневен (bg) (ednodneven)
• Finnish: päivä- (fi), päivän- (fi), päivän kestävä (fi)
• Greek: εφήμερος (el) (efímeros), ημερόβιος (el) (imeróvios)

• Icelandic: dægurlangur (is) m
• Maori: rangitahi (mi)
• Polish: efemeryczny (pl)
• Serbo-Croatian: ȅfemēran (sh)

External links

• ephemeral in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ephemeral in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911