different between aether vs ethereal

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?i?.??/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?i.??/

Noun

aether (countable and uncountable, plural aethers)

1. Alternative spelling of ether

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:aether.

Anagrams

• Heater, eather, hearte, heater, hereat, reheat

Latin

Alternative forms

• ?ther (medieval)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ????? (aith?r, “air; ether”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ae?.t?e?r/, [?äe?t??e?r]
• (Vulgar) IPA^(key): /?ae?.ter/, [???ter]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?e.ter/, [???t??r]

Noun

aeth?r m (genitive aetheris); third declension

1. the upper, pure, bright air; ether; the heavens
2. the air or sky; light of day
3. the upper world, the earth (as opposed to the lower world)
4. the brightness or ethereal matter surrounding a deity

Declension

Note that, in Late Latin, the plural is sometimes written as aethera. The genitive occasionally appears as the Ancient Greek, aetheros.

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, variant with nominative singular in -?r).

Related terms

• aetherius
• aethra

Descendants

References

• aether in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• aether in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• aether in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• aether in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

English

Alternative forms

• etherial
• aethereal
• aetherial
• æthereal
• æthereall (obsolete)
• ætherial
• ætheriall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Latin aetherius (“of or pertaining to the ether, the sky, or the air or upper air; ethereal”), from Ancient Greek ???????? (aithérios, “of or pertaining to the upper air; ethereal”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?????.?i.?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?????.i.?l/, /?????.i.?l/

Adjective

ethereal (comparative more ethereal, superlative most ethereal)

1. Pertaining to the hypothetical upper, purer air, or to the higher regions beyond the earth or beyond the atmosphere; celestial; otherworldly.
   • 1862: Thoreau, Walking.

     I trust that we shall be more imaginative, that our thoughts will be clearer, fresher, and more ethereal, as our sky, […]

2. Consisting of ether; hence, exceedingly light or airy; tenuous; spiritlike; characterized by extreme delicacy, as form, manner, thought, etc.
3. Delicate, light and airy.
4. (chemistry) To do with ether.

   an ethereal solution

Synonyms

• (pertaining to the hypothetical upper, purer air): aereous, mystical, transcendental; See also Thesaurus:cosmic
• (consisting of ether): ethereous; See also Thesaurus:gaseous, Thesaurus:insubstantial, or Thesaurus:subtle
• (delicate, light and airy): gossamer; See also Thesaurus:fragile
• (to do with ether): ethereous, etheric, etherical

Derived terms

Translations

References

• ethereal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.