Lucid

How to spell lucid

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce lucid

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does lucid mean?

1. adjectiveExpressed clearly and easy to understand.
2. adjectiveThinking or speaking clearly and rationally, especially in contrast to confusion.

Lucid in a sentence

• The manual gave a lucid explanation of how to set up the router.

• Despite the fever, he stayed remarkably lucid during the call.

• Her lucid summary helped the board grasp the budget in minutes.

• The patient had a lucid interval and recognised her family at once.

Where does lucid come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin lucidus, meaning 'bright', 'shining', or 'full of light'. That adjective was built on the verb lucere, 'to shine', which in turn rests on lux, the everyday Latin noun for 'light'. When English adopted lucid in the late 1500s, it first carried the literal sense of physically bright or luminous, and only afterwards settled into its modern figurative meaning of mentally or verbally clear, as if light were being thrown on an idea. The same shining root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'translucent' (letting light through), 'elucidate' (to throw light on something), and even the name Lucifer (literally 'light-bringer'). Because the spelling tracks the Latin so faithfully, remembering luc as 'light' keeps the single c and the -id ending in place.

How the word is built

• luc- (from Latin lux/lucere: light, to shine)
• -id (adjective suffix meaning 'having the quality of')