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ephemeral

UK/ɛˈfɛ.mə.ɹəl/US/ɛˈfɛ.mə.ɹəl/
adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,845 of 15,258leans written

Ephemeral means lasting only a very short while. Ephemeral pleasures, ephemeral fame, ephemeral art.

The Greek means lasting a day, and the mayfly's order is named from the same word. Ephemera, the plural noun, is what collectors call printed things never meant to be kept, such as tickets and posters.

Definitions of ephemeral

  1. 1adjectiveephemeralLasting only a very short while.C2

    “Fame on social media is often ephemeral, gone within a week.”

ephemeral is a quality.

Remember it

The Greek parts mean for a day. Ephemeral things last their day and are gone by the next one.

hooks ontoday

Where it comes from

Greek ephemeros means lasting only a day, from epi plus hemera, a day.

  1. Ancient Greek

    ἐφήμερος

  2. New Latin

    ephemerus

  3. English, today

    ephemeral

Built from

  • ἐφημέριος · Ancient Greek — of, for, or during the day, living or lasting but for a day, short-lived, temporary
  • ἐπί · Ancient Greek — on
  • ἡμέρα · Ancient Greek — day

From New Latin ephemerus, from Ancient Greek ἐφήμερος, the more common form of ἐφημέριος (“of, for, or during the day, living or lasting but for a day, short-lived, temporary”), from ἐπί (“on”) + ἡμέρα (“day”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

ephemeral in the wild

  • Forward secrecy results from the use of ephemeral keys: the private keys are discarded once key agreement is complete, making them safe from later compromise.

    Diffie–Hellman key exchange

  • The allocation of an ephemeral port is temporary and only valid for the duration of the communication session.

    Ephemeral port

  • In computing, a persistent data structure or not ephemeral data structure is a data structure that always preserves the previous version of itself when it is modified.

    Persistent data structure

  • Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals.

    Vernal pool

  • The first, spring ephemeral, refers to plants that emerge quickly in the spring and die back to their underground parts after a short growth and reproduction phase.

    Ephemeral plant

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.