Words / D / General

diaphanous

adjective/daɪˈæfənəs/

C2CEFR level
87/100Rarity: very rare
LiteraryRegister

Light, delicate and translucent.

Diaphanous curtains softened the noon light.

Similar: sheer, translucent, gossamer

Origin: Greek diaphanes 'showing through'.

Topic: Arts & literature in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: Arts & literature