chatoyancy means the state or condition of being chatoyant. It carries an Arena rating of 1567, earned across 27 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, chatoyancy ranks #2,305 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #3,369 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #4,329 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #5,412 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
Why “chatoyancy” is a great word
CHATOYANCY — [Noun] An optical effect in which a single, mobile band of reflected light glides across the surface of certain minerals or woods, mimicking the slit-pupil gleam in a cat's eye. From French chatoyant (present participle of chatoyer, "to shimmer like a cat's eye"), from chat ("cat") + -oyer (verbal suffix), + English -cy (noun-forming suffix). First recorded in English in the late 18th century. Unlike "iridescence" (which yields a rainbow spectrum from diffraction) or "luster" (which classifies a surface’s general reflective quality), chatoyancy is the controlled, singular drama of light in motion. It is the captive moonbeam sliding along a strand of tiger's-eye quartz, the liquid ribbon shifting in a panel of polished satinwood, or the sudden, watchful flash from a cabochon in a darkened room—a reminder that the deepest stillness can still hold a moving light.
Etymology
From chatoyant + -cy.
noun
- The state or condition of being chatoyant.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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