Evanescent

This word is from one of the books that I am now reading, Mark Jerome Walters' Seeking the Sacred Raven: Politics and Extinctions on a Hawai'ian Island. This book is a fascinating portrayal of the myriad difficulties involved with trying to save an endangered species.

Evanescent (ev-uh-NES-uhnt) [Latin ÄvÄnÄscent- (s. of ÄvÄnÄscÄns): vanishing, disappearing.]

adj.

1. vanishing; fading away; fleeting.
2. tending to become imperceptible; scarcely perceptible.

Usage: The bird, I sometimes imagined, were I to fully comprehend its many dimensions, could deepen my understanding of both culture and biology and, perhaps, even my own evanescent presence on an ancient planet.

.