只得一日之寿的——朝开暮谢、转瞬即逝的那种短。 Lasting a day; here and gone.
Lasting a day; here and gone. 只得一日之寿的——朝开暮谢、转瞬即逝的那种短。
词源etymology
希腊语 ephēmeros：epi（当）＋ hēmera（日）——「只在当日之内」。 一个以「天」为量具的词。
Greek ephēmeros: epi (upon) + hēmera (day) — “for the day only.” A word that measures with a single day for its ruler.
背景the story
它的出身是病历：希波克拉底一派的医书里，ephemeros 指二十四小时内自行退去的「一日热」。 16 世纪末以医学术语进入英语，然后被两拨人接走——博物学家把朝生暮死的蜉蝣一目 定名 Ephemeroptera（蜉蝣目），诗人把它接去形容一切留不住的东西。
从体温计到蜉蝣再到樱花：一个词的三段人生，越走越轻。
Its birth certificate is medical: in the Hippocratic writings, an ephemeros was a fever that ran its course within a day. It entered English in the late 16th century as a clinical term, then was carried off twice — naturalists named the mayfly order Ephemeroptera after it, and the poets took it for everything that will not keep.
Thermometer, mayfly, cherry blossom: three careers for one word, each lighter than the last.
中文里的邻居neighbors in chinese
中文早就把同一只虫立成了同一个意思：「朝生暮死」说的正是蜉蝣， 苏轼干脆写「寄蜉蝣于天地」。两种语言互不商量，各自挑中了这只只活一天的虫， 替「短暂」代言——所指相同、取象相同，这在词的世界里是难得的巧合。
Chinese elected the very same insect to the very same office: 朝生暮死 — “born at dawn, dead by dusk” — is said of the mayfly, and Su Shi wrote 寄蜉蝣于天地, “we lodge like mayflies between heaven and earth.” Two languages, without conferring, chose the one-day insect as the spokesman for brevity — same referent, same image. In the world of words, that coincidence is rare.
The cherry trees run an ephemeral business and never lack for customers. 自拟例句 our own example, not a quotation Chalk art is ephemeral on purpose; the rain is part of the medium. 自拟例句 our own example, not a quotation 词典词（MW／OED），正式写作通用，比 fleeting 书面、比 transient 有体温。 名词 ephemera 另有一义：指传单、票根这类「本该用完就扔」的印刷品——收藏界的术语。
A dictionary word (MW/OED), good anywhere formal — more bookish than fleeting, warmer than transient. The noun ephemera has its own career: the collectors’ term for printed matter meant to be thrown away — handbills, tickets, programs.