Ethereal means so delicate and light it seems not of this world. An ethereal beauty, ethereal music, an ethereal glow.
It is the standard word for voices and light that feel weightless, and it is used so often of singers that it has worn thin. The ether it comes from was the pure upper air the ancients believed the heavens were made of.
1adjectiveetherealSo delicate and light it seems not of this world.
“The morning mist gave the forest an ethereal beauty.”
ethereal is a quality.
Latin aetherius comes from Greek aither, the pure upper air the heavens were thought to be made of.
Ancient Greek
αἰθέριος — of or pertaining to the upper air
Latin
aetherius — of or pertaining to the ether, the sky, Heaven or the air or upper air
English, today
ethereal
From Latin aetherius (“of or pertaining to the ether, the sky, Heaven or the air or upper air”), from Ancient Greek αἰθέριος (“of or pertaining to the upper air”). by surface analysis, ether + -ial.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA