Unleash Word Magic: The Most Beautiful English Words
Many people consider French, Italian, and Spanish to be the most romantic languages. That’s fine and all but what about the English language? After all, English has given us words…
Many people consider French, Italian, and Spanish to be the most romantic languages. That's fine and all but what about the English language? After all, English has given us words like incandescent and euphoria, which tend to just roll off the tongue. Best Life, a lifestyle magazine, compiled a list of what they consider to be the most beautiful words in the English language.
They picked 60 words and put them each into a category. These categories include beautiful words related to your state of being, unusual words related to nature, beautiful words with negative meanings, and aesthetic words, among others.
The Most Beautiful Words
When it comes to the most beautiful words related to your state of being, aesthete tops their list. An aesthete, according to Merriam-Webster, is someone who appreciates beauty, especially in art. If you're moved by sculptures and paintings, or if you act like you are for others, you might be an aesthete. Either way, saying the word brings joy. Other beautiful words related to your state of being include ebullience, eudaemonia, and euphoria. Actual Euphoria, not the TV series.
As far as beautiful, unusual words related to nature go, aurora tops the list. Once the name of the Roman sunrise goddess, aurora now covers both the morning and the cool light show up in a planet's magnetic polar regions. It's also the name of the Disney princess from Sleeping Beauty. Right after aurora comes cynosure. Back in the 17th century, people used cynosure for both the North Star and the Ursa Minor constellation. Even though that still works, Merriam-Webster says anyone grabbing the spotlight or guiding can be a cynosure.
Interestingly, incendiary is the top beautiful word with a negative meaning. It means extremely hot or inflammatory, or anything that causes a fire. Inure, which is also on their list means to accept or grow accustomed to something undesirable. These used the example of, "your family's constant criticism could inure you to toxic behavior from loved ones."
See what other words made the cut with the complete list here.
