10 of the Most Beautiful English Words

English is a rich, patchwork language that is made up of Latin, Germanic and Romance elements. It has been developed over hundreds of years, survived wars, invasions and influences from around the world. With so many wonderful words in our dictionary, we are spoilt for choice. We can use positive words or negative words. Simple ones or difficult ones. Just like a painter uses colour and line to create his art, we use words to organise and decorate our language. We combine them to form sentences, create stories, poems and songs. It is with words that we can communicate and express ourselves, our thoughts and our feelings.

To celebrate how delightful and important words are, we’ve created a list of what we think are 10 of the most beautiful words in the English language. So if you want to increase your vocabulary and impress with your eloquence, then continue reading!

Splendiferous (adj) - having great beauty and splendour.

A splendour is a beautiful sight. Splendiferous things are even better. This somewhat silly-sounding word is a term for praising things that are absolutely fantastic, either because they're beautiful or otherwise great. A gorgeous spring day is splendiferous. A delicious dinner is splendiferous. Seeing a friend for the first time in months is splendiferous. As long as you're referring to something great, it could be called splendiferous.

For example, you could also say:

It’s splendiferous that you’re here and reading this blog!

Serendipity (n) - something positive that happens completely by chance.

If you find good things without looking for them, serendipity — unexpected good luck — has brought them to you. You can thank serendipity if you find a pencil at an empty desk just as you walk into an exam and realise that you forgot yours.

You could also say:

It was pure serendipity when I missed my flight and met the love of my life.

Euphoria (noun) - a feeling of intense happiness and excitement.

Use euphoria to describe a feeling of great happiness and well-being, but know that euphoria often means more than that - it's unusually, crazy happy, over the top.

You could say:

There was euphoria after France won the world cup.

She was in a state of euphoria for days after she won the prize.

Effervescent (adj) - a liquid giving off bubbles or a person that is full of life and excitement.

Something effervescent has bubbles like a sparkling wine or a bubble bath. If you have a happy, light, cheerful personality – if you are “bubbly” – then you too are effervescent.

Mellifluous (adj) – a sound that is sweet and smooth, pleasing to hear.

Use the adjective mellifluous to describe something that sounds sweet and smooth, like the honeyed voice of a late-night radio DJ. Interestingly, in Latin, mel means "honey" and fluere means "to flow" – to flow like honey.

For example, you could say:

My mother was gifted with a mellifluous voice. Or,

I enjoy the mellifluous sound of the cello.

Bibliophile (n) - someone who loves (and usually collects) books.

You can call a book lover a bibliophile. If you find it impossible to leave a bookstore without buying at least one book, you might be a bibliophile. A bibliophile usually has a huge collection of books and loves nothing more than browsing in a used bookshop or a library.

Inconspicuous (adj) - Something that is inconspicuous is not easily seen or does not attract attention because it is small, ordinary, or hidden away.

Inconspicuous describes something that doesn't stand out or attract attention. The bad news? You just got pizza sauce on your shirt. The good news? It landed in an inconspicuous spot, so no one will notice.

For example, you could also say:

Chameleons can change to an inconspicuous colour so that they can’t be seen.

Lullaby (n) - a quiet song which is intended to be sung to babies and young children to help them go to sleep.

If anyone has ever sung a song to you before bedtime, trying to lull you to sleep, you can call that song a lullaby. Lullabies are usually soft and soothing tunes — more like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" than AC/DC's "Back in Black."

Scumptious (adj) - (of food) extremely tasty; delicious.

If you describe something as scrumptious, you'd probably like to eat every last bit. We usually use it to talk about delicious food, but if your little cousin is so cute you want to eat her up, then she's scrumptious too. Remember that scrumptious has a "p" after the "m," even though you often can't hear it when the word is spoken.

For example, you could say:

Can I have another slice of that scrumptious cake? Please?

Quintessential (adj) - representing a perfect or typical example of something.

If someone tells you you’re the quintessential rock musician, that means they think that everything about you screams “rock and roll.” Quintessential means embodying or possessing the essence of something.

For example you could say,

The island was the quintessential tropical paradise.

Everybody thinks of him as the quintessential Englishman.