It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 2nd.
Today's word is ethereal, spelled E-T-H-E-R-E-A-L.
Ethereal is an adjective.
It means of or relating to the regions beyond the earth or of or resembling heaven.
It can also mean lacking material substance and relating to containing or resembling a chemical ether.
Here's the word used in a sentence from The World We Make, a novel by N.K.
Jemisin.
Rilia laughs to see that Manny has brought his battle persona of King Kong to the fore again,
this time directing the strategy of all the others.
The beast's lower half is elsewhere, ethereal,
transcending the realms again so as to minimize damage and loss of life.
The upper half, however, has formed very real fists of tough, ancient Manhattan schist.
If you're burning to know the history of the word ethereal,
you're in the right spirit to fully understand the words etymology.
The ancient Greeks believed that the earth was composed of earth, air, fire, and water,
but that the heavens and its denizens were made of a purer,
less tangible substance known in English transliteration as either quintessence or ether.
Ether was often described as an invisible light or fire.
Its name comes from the Greek verb ethine, meaning to ignite or to blaze.
When Ethereal, the adjective kin of Ether, debuted in English in the 1500s,