English's 100 most beautiful words

It's official! The the 100 most beautiful words in English have been selected. Compiled by "Dr. Goodword" (a.k.a Dr. Robert Beard) the list aims to present the “most beautiful words in sounds and meaning".


Here they are (in alphabetical order, not in order of "beautifulness"):

1. adroit (Dexterous, agile.)
2. adumbrate (To very gently suggest.)
3. aestivate (To summer, to spend the summer.)
4. ailurophile (A cat-lover.)
5. beatific (Befitting an angel or saint.)
6. beleaguer (To exhaust with attacks.)
7. blandiloquent (Beautiful and flattering.)
8. caliginous (Dark and misty.)
9. champagne (An effervescent wine.)
10. chatoyant (Like a cat's eye.)
11. chiaroscuro (The arrangement of dark and light elements in a picture.)
12. cockle (A heart-shaped bivalve or a garden flower.)
13. colporteur (A book peddlar.)
14. conflate (To blend together, to combine different things.)
15. cynosure (A focal point of admiration.)
16. desuetude (Disuse.)
17. diaphanous (Filmy.)
18. diffuse (Spread out, not focused or concentrated.)
19. dulcet (Sweet, sugary.)
20. ebullient (Bubbling with enthusiasm.)
21. effervescent (Bubbly.)
22. efflorescence (Flowering, the opening of buds or a bloom.)
23. elixir (A good potion.)
24. emollient (A softener.)
25. encomium (A spoken or written work in praise of someone.)
26. ephemeral (Short-lived.)
27. epicure (A person who enjoys fine living, especially food and drink.)
28. epiphany (A sudden revelation.)
29. erstwhile (At one time, for a time.)
30. eschew (To reject or avoid.)
31. esculent (Edible.)
32. esoteric (Understood only by a small group of specialists.)
33. ethereal (Gaseous, invisible but detectable.)
34. etiolate (White from no contact with light.)
35. evanescent (Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time.)
36. exuberant (Enthusiastic, excited.)
37. felicitous (Pleasing.)
38. fescue (A variety of grass favored for pastures.)
39. foudroyant (Dazzling.)
40. fragile (Very, very delicate.)
41. fugacioius (Running, escaping.)
42. gambol (To skip or leap about joyfully.)
43. glamour (Beauty.)
44. gossamer (The finest piece of thread, a spider's silk.)
45. halcyon (Happy, sunny, care-free.)
46. hymeneal (Having to do with a wedding.)
47. imbricate (To overlap to form a regular pattern.)
48. imbroglio (An altercation or complicated situation.)
49. imbue (To infuse, instill.)
50. incipient (Beginning, in an early stage.)
51. ingenue (A naïve young woman.)
52. inglenook (The place beside the fireplace.)
53. inspissate (To thicken.)
54. inure (To jade.)
55. jejune (Dull; childish.)
56. lagniappe (A gift given to a customer for their patronage.)
57. lagoon (A small gulf or inlet in the sea.)
58. languor (Listlessness, inactivity.)
59. lassitude (Weariness, listlessness.)
60. laughter (The response to something funny.)
61. lilt (To move musically or lively, to have a lively sound.)
62. lithe (Slender and flexible.)
63. loquacious (Talkative.)
64. luxuriant (Thick, lavish.)
65. mellifluous (Sweet-sounding.)
66. missive (A message or letter.)
67. moiety (One of two equal parts, a half.)
68. mondegreen (A misanalyzed phrase.)
69. nebulous (Foggy.)
70. niveous (Snowy, snow-like.)
71. obsequious (Fawning, subservience.)
72. odalisque (A concubine in a harem.)
73. oeuvre (A work.)
74. offing (That part of the sea between the horizon and the offshore.)
75. onomatopoeia (The creation of words by imitating sound.)
76. paean (A formal expression of praise.)
77. palimpsest (A manuscript written over one or more earlier ones.)
78. panacea (A complete solution for all problems.)
79. panoply (A complete set.)
80. pastiche (A mixture of art work (art or music) from various sources.)
81. peccadillo (A peculiarity.)
82. pelagic (Related to the sea or ocean.)
83. penumbra (A half-shadow, the edge of a shadow.)
84. peregrination (Wandering, travels.)
85. petrichor (The smell of earth after a rain.)
86. plethora (A great excess, overabundance.)
87. porcelain (A fine white clay pottery.)
88. potamophilous (Loving rivers.)
89. propinquity (A nearness, similarity, or kinship.)
90. Pyrrhic (Victorious despite heavy losses.)
91. quintessential (The ultimate, the essence of the essence.)
92. redolent (Sweet-smelling.)
93. rhapsody (A beautiful musical piece.)
94. riparian (Having to do with the bank of a river or other body of water.)
95. ripple (A small, circular wave emanating from a central point.)
96. scintillate (To sparkle with brilliant light.)
97. sempiternal (Forever and ever.)
98. seraglio (Housing for a harem.)
99. serendipity (Finding something while looking for something else.)
100. surreptitious (Sneaky.)

Now, who wants to try to write a story using all those words? It could be about an adroit, lithe ingenue in a beautific gossamer gown gambolling in the garden enjoying the petrichor. Or something.

Ma'am van Zyl