pellucid

From Latin pellūcidus, from per- (“very”) + lūcidus (“clear, bright”) (whence lucid), from lūceō (“shine, be visible”). Surface analysis per- +‎ lucid; compare perfervid. Compare clear, crystal clear, both also with literal meaning “transparent” but metaphorical meaning “easily understood”.

• IPA^(key): /pəˈluːsɪd/

pellucid (comparative more pellucid, superlative most pellucid)

1. Allowing the passage of light; transparent.
   • 1857, R. M. Ballantyne, The Coral Island, ch. 16:

     . . . and the bright seaweeds and the brilliant corals shone in the depths of that pellucid water, as we rowed over it, like rare and precious gems.

   • 1862, Christina Rossetti, "Goblin Market" in Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, The World's Classics, Oxford University Press, 1913, 173-179,

     You cannot think what figs / My teeth have met in, / What melons icy-cold / Piled on a dish of gold / Too huge for me to hold, / What peaches with a velvet nap; / Pellucid grapes without one seed: […]

   • 1979, Time, 22 October, 1979,

     Opera star Tozzi sings with the richness of burnished bronze and Daniels complements him with her pellucid soprano.

2. Easily understood; clear.
   • 1994, Fritz Lanham in Houston Chronicle, 13 November, 1994, ,

     Written in spare, pellucid prose, the book reads like a close-to-the-bone memoir.

   • 1999, Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, Preface:

     If I treat that grammar as pellucid, then I fail to call attention precisely to that sphere of language that establishes and disestablishes intelligibility, and that would be precisely to thwart my own project as I have described it to you here.

• (allowing passage of light): clear, limpid, lucid, translucent
• (easily understood): clear, crystal clear, lucid, translucent

• elucidate
• lucid
• pellucidity
• perfervid