Translucent

How to spell translucent

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce translucent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does translucent mean?

1. adjectiveAllowing light to pass through but not fully transparent, so objects behind appear blurred.

Translucent in a sentence

• The bathroom window was made of translucent glass for privacy.

• She chose a translucent lampshade that softened the glow across the room.

Where does translucent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb translucere, which literally meant 'to shine through', combining the prefix trans, meaning 'across' or 'through', with the verb lucere, 'to shine'. The present participle translucentem described something that let light pass through it, and English adopted the form in the early 1600s, originally in scientific and natural-philosophy writing about how light behaved in different materials. The same lucere root glows quietly inside a whole family of English words, including lucid, elucidate, and the name Lucy, all carrying the idea of brightness or clarity. The spelling trap lives in the middle and the end: the 'c' is pronounced like an 's', so writers reach for 'translusent', and the unstressed final vowel tempts an '-ant' ending rather than the correct '-ent'. Holding on to the light-related cousin 'lucid' is a useful way to keep that '-luc-' spelling fixed in mind.

How the word is built

• trans- (through)
• luc (light/shine, from Latin lucere 'to shine')
• -ent (adjective suffix)