IRIDESCENT

[Dr. Goodword]

• iridescent •

Pronunciation: i-rê-de-sênt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Displaying a rainbow of colors, shimmering with an array of multiple bright colors.

Notes: Today's Good Word is a beautiful one in both sound and meaning. It is related to irises, both the flowers and the colorful part of the eye. The adverb and noun are formed the usual way, iridescently and iridescence. (In the spoken language, that is simply the addition of the suffix -s to the adjective: [irêdesênt] becomes [irêdesênt-s], the [t] dropping out by a regular rule as it does in scents.)

In Play: Certain objects are by their very nature iridescent: "Maude Lynn Dresser was the center of attention when she walked in with a new hat spuming iridescent peacock feathers." If you are an environmentalist, though, iridescence may not always be a beautiful sight: "The president of the oil plant wore a ring with an iridescent gemstone that matched perfectly the colors in the film of oil on the surface of the creek that ran by the plant."

Word History: The beauty of today's word comes from Greek iris (plural irides) "rainbow, iris (of the eye)" + (e)scent. Latin added the sense of the flower, iris, when it borrowed the word from Greek. The root of iris developed directly into Latin as viere "to twist", suggesting that iris is a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European wi-ri- "to turn, twist". This same root turned up in English as wire, vine, and withe "slender, supple switch"—maybe willow, too. The semantic journey through Greek led from something bent (rainbow) to anything colorful as a rainbow. (Let us all bend at the waist in the direction of Tom Duffy for suggesting such a colorful word as our Good Word of today.)

[Slava]

"The president of the oil plant wore a ring with an iridescent gemstone that matched perfectly the colors in the film of oil on the surface of the creek that ran by the plant."

A good word to apply to the BP oil disaster in the Gulf this year.

Does anyone out there think this word could be applied to a personality?

[MTC]

Iris, messenger of the gods, was personified by a rainbow. She linked heaven to earth in a communicative arch and is the "personality" behind the word iridescent.

In an intriguing parallel, the rainbow is also a means of communication between God and man in the Bible:
" I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. " (Gen 9:13)

Iridescent is a beautiful word with an etherial past.