SNP’s word of the day: Celeste

Word: Celeste

Meaning: In French, heavenly. But it can mean so much. Keep reading.

Usage: “Syncing  the celeste, or how to touch the fabric of time.” — from a post on Brainpickings

You should know it because: Celeste has myriad lovely definitions; once you know the word, you’ll wonder how you dreamed without it. As a noun, it means “an organ stop, deliberately slightly out of tune to give an undulating sound,” says Wiktionary. (A very late-Beatles-y sound.) As an adjective, taken from the French céleste, it means “heavenly”; in Spanish, it signifies the palest sky blue (put that in a speech, Meryl Streep). Sometimes it’s also used as a fancier noun for “the heavens” or “the sky.” And of course, you all know the more common adjective, “celestial,” overused in fashion this year to describe everything from Christopher Kane‘s galaxy prints to Deborah Lippmann‘s “Starry Night” nail polish.

My mom, a language enthusiast (you’re surprised, non?), taught me the meaning of “celeste” because Babar (tell me you know the Babar books) had a cousin named Celeste. But I hadn’t heard it in eons, and then the other day I was on Brainpickings and found this amazing mosaic time-lapse video of the sky and they used “celeste” in the dek. Perfect usage: the video (watch it, watch it, watch it! It’ll give you a nice anti-apocalypticist feeling) is every bit as beautiful as this word.

The post SNP’s word of the day: Celeste appeared first on FASHION Magazine.