Share This Spectacular Vernacular
It’s been raining here in Asheville all week. Each evening, I go to bed hoping that the showers will end the next day. Each morning, I wake to find the precipitation is falling. I’m struggling to remind myself that such sogginess is usually evanescent weather.
Such a fun word, and it comes in many forms: noun (evanescence); adjective (evanescent); adverb (evanescently); and even verb (evanesce). Regardless, it refers to the short-term nature of something that vanishes or dissipates.
Evanescent flowers bloom for a short time before the petals fall to the ground. A brilliant rainbow will evanesce as the air dries. The fleeting evanescence of the pain of defeat dwindles over time.
The word comes to us via French (évanescent) from the Latin evanescere—to disappear or vanish.
So go enjoy this week’s word until it fades from your memory.