entry
lucid
/ˈluːsɪd/clear, bright, and easy to understand
From Latin luc- (light).
from PIE root *leuk- "to shine, be bright." Sense of "easy to understand, free
from Latin lucidus "light, bright, clear," figuratively "perspicuous, lucid, clear,"
from Latin lucidus "light, bright, clear," figuratively "perspicuous, lucid, clear,"
Word Ancestry
from PIE root *leuk- "to shine, be bright." Sense of "easy to understand, free
from Latin lucidus "light, bright, clear," figuratively "perspicuous, lucid, clear,"
from Latin lucidus "light, bright, clear," figuratively "perspicuous, lucid, clear,"
A word that once meant simply “bright” has a neat habit of drifting indoors and lighting up the mind. Romans used lucidus for things that gleamed, but English later stole it for thoughts, arguments, and prose that are wonderfully easy to see through. That same little light-root gives us luminous cousins like elucidate, pellucid, and lucent, all acting as if clarity were a kind of lamp. Then there’s the eerie phrase lucid interval, borrowed from Medieval Latin legal and medical writing: a person in distress or madness could still have brief spells of calm, as if the storm clouds opened for a minute. By the 1590s, English had the shine; by 1786, it had the mental clarity. One root, two kinds of light — the kind on a candle and the kind in your head.
The Story
A word that once meant simply “bright” has a neat habit of drifting indoors and lighting up the mind. Romans used lucidus for things that gleamed, but English later stole it for thoughts, arguments, and prose that are wonderfully easy to see through. That same little light-root gives us luminous cousins like elucidate, pellucid, and lucent, all acting as if clarity were a kind of lamp. Then there’s the eerie phrase lucid interval, borrowed from Medieval Latin legal and medical writing: a person in distress or madness could still have brief spells of calm, as if the storm clouds opened for a minute. By the 1590s, English had the shine; by 1786, it had the mental clarity. One root, two kinds of light — the kind on a candle and the kind in your head.
Kin & Kindred
From 'luc-'·light; shining; bright
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary