# evanescent

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ɛvəˈnɛs(ə)nt/ · frequency rank #79,500

## Definitions
1. Disappearing, vanishing.
2. Disappearing, vanishing.
3. Disappearing, vanishing.
4. Barely there; almost imperceptible.
5. Ephemeral, fleeting, momentary.
6. Ephemeral, fleeting, momentary.

## Etymology
Borrowed from French évanescent (“evanescent”), from Latin ēvānēscēns (“disappearing, vanishing”), present participle of ēvānēscō (“to disappear, vanish; to die out, fade away; to lapse”), from ē- (variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away, out’)) + vānēscō (“to vanish”) (from vānus (“empty, vacant, void”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- (“to abandon, leave”)) + -ēscō (suffix forming verbs with the sense ‘to become’)).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/evanescent