ether
Meanings
- The substance formerly supposed to fill the upper regions of the atmosphere above the clouds, in particular as a medium breathed by deities.
- The medium breathed by human beings; the air.
- The sky, the heavens; the void, nothingness.
- Often as aether and more fully as luminiferous aether: The hypothetical substance permeating space, functioning as a medium for electromagnetic waves to propagate through, and which does not exert resistance to the movement of matter; its existence is incompatible with Einstein's theory of relativity; famously found to be undetectable by the 1887 Michelson–Morley experiment.
- The atmosphere or space as a medium for broadcasting radio and television signals; also, a notional space through which Internet and other digital communications take place; cyberspace.
- A particular quality created by or surrounding an object, person, or place; an atmosphere, an aura.
- Diethyl ether (C₄H₁₀O), an organic compound with a sweet odour used in the past as an anaesthetic.
- Any of a class of organic compounds containing an oxygen atom bonded to two hydrocarbon groups.
- Starting fluid.
- To viciously humiliate or insult.
- Alternative form of edder.
- Alternative letter-case form of Ether.
- The god-personification of the bright, glowing upper air of heaven. He is the Roman counterpart of Aether.
- A unit of the Ethereum digital currency, ETH.
- The ancient American prophet of Mormon theology who wrote the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ-der. Proto-Hellenic *áitʰō Ancient Greek αἴθω (aíthō) ▲ Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr)influ.? Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr)der. Latin aethērder. English ether From Middle English ēther (“the caelum aetherum of ancient cosmology in which the planets orbit; a shining, fluid substance described as a form of air or fire; air”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman ether and Middle French ether, ethere, aether, from Old French aether (“highest and purest part of the atmosphere; medium supposedly filling the upper regions of space”) (modern French éther), or directly from its etymon Latin aethēr (“highest and purest part of the atmosphere; air; heavens, sky; light of day; ethereal matter surrounding a deity”) (note also New Latin aethēr (“chemical compound analogous to diethyl ether”)), from Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “purer upper air of the atmosphere; heaven, sky; theoretical medium supposed to fill unoccupied space and transmit heat and light”), from αἴθω (aíthō, “to burn, ignite; to blaze, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- (“to burn; fire”). The English word is cognate with Italian ether, ethera (both obsolete), etere, Middle Dutch ether (modern Dutch aether (obsolete), ether), German Äther, Ether, Portuguese éter, Spanish éter.