Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
diaphane. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
diaphane, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
diaphane in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
diaphane you have here. The definition of the word
diaphane will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
diaphane, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle French diaphane, from Medieval Latin diaphanus (“diaphanous”), from Ancient Greek διαφανής (diaphanḗs), from δια- (dia-, “through”) and φαίνω (phaínō, “show”); by surface analysis, dia- + -phane.
Pronunciation
Noun
diaphane (countable and uncountable, plural diaphanes)
- Something transparent.
- Hyponyms: cellophane, diapositive
1919, Donald F. Goold Johnson, Poems, page 71:And for man's life as the clear sparkling wine, Gladding the heart and lifting up the soul From its frail diaphane of petulant flesh, Yet whence doth flow this liquor of delight ?
2007, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, The Battle of Evernight: Bitterbynde 3, →ISBN:Here, dragonflies of metallic emerald-gold or ruby iridescence froze in midair on almost-invisible wings of diaphane.
2011, Valentine Cunningham, Victorian Poetry Now: Poets, Poems and Poetics, →ISBN:I moulded with my hands The mobile breasts, the valley; and the waist I touched; and pigments reverently placed Upon their thighs in sapient spots and stains, Beryls and crysolites and diaphanes, And gems whose hot harsh names are never said.
- A woven silk stuff with transparent and colored figures.
- (Aristotelian philosophy) Essence or nature as encapsulated in a mental construct.
2004, Didier Eribon, Insult and the Making of the Gay Self, →ISBN, page 168:The figure of the diaphane, "this clear crystal nature," is a person so perfect that his simple presence would do more for the world than others manage to do through their actions.
2008, John Michael Greer, The Druid Magic Handbook: Ritual Magic Rooted in the Living Earth, →ISBN:Thus dreams and daydreams, stray thoughts, and all the other products of imagination are not simply inside one human brain; some are created by the diaphane of the person who experiences them, others come form outside, but all are projected onto the astral light.
2010, Greg Urban, Metaphysical Community: The Interplay of the Senses and the Intellect, →ISBN:What becomes a topic of conversation, what becomes the subject of publicly circulating discourses, is what lies beyond the senses — the land above the sky, the world of the dead, the other side of the diaphane.
Derived terms
See also
French
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin diaphanus (“diaphanous”), from Ancient Greek διαφανής (diaphanḗs), from δια- (dia-, “through”) and φαίνω (phaínō, “show”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
diaphane (plural diaphanes)
- (physics or formal) diaphanous, translucent
- (of a person or their physical traits) delicate, fragile
Elle avait des mains diaphanes.- She had delicate hands.
Derived terms
Further reading
German
Pronunciation
Adjective
diaphane
- inflection of diaphan:
- strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
- strong nominative/accusative plural
- weak nominative all-gender singular
- weak accusative feminine/neuter singular
Latin
Adjective
diaphane
- vocative masculine singular of diaphanus