Word of the Week: Celestial

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

Drawing inspiration from the last Word of the Week of 2015, here’s another beautiful word for what seems to be (or actually is) from the heavens. Humanity has long been fascinated with the sky and space, so it’s only natural that we have so many words to describe the wonders beyond our world. When gazing up at the starry night sky, it’s hard not to fall in love with the “celestial” beauty of space!

“Celestial” describes what is heavenly in nature, whether it’s literally in the sky or outer space or figuratively of divine quality. Originally French, the word arose in late Middle English and comes from the Latin adjective caelestis, meaning “of the heavens”. This adjective stems from the noun caelum, which means “heaven” or “sky”.

I’ve always loved the word “celestial” for how poetic it sounds; one of my favorite uses for it is to describe the shades of blue seen in the sky. I seem to read it equally in the literal sense of astronomical bodies such as planets and stars as in the figurative sense of heavenly figures, and occasionally to refer to something of near perfect quality. Whether you enjoy writing about space, the sky, or divinities, “celestial” is a lovely word that I highly recommend for your stories and/or poetry!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?