diaphanes

Noun

diaphane (countable and uncountable, plural diaphanes)

1. Something transparent.
   • The corporal nature is deuided into bright and ſhining bodies, as earth and metalles: Eyther into Diaphane or tranſparent bodyes, as ayre and water.1561, Martin Cortes [i.e., Martín Cortés de Albacar], “Of the Generall Distinction of Creatures”, in Richard Eden, transl., The Arte of Nauigation: Conteynyng a Compendious Description of the Sphere...
2. A woven silk stuff with transparent and colored figures.
3. (Aristotelian philosophy) Essence or nature as encapsulated in a mental construct.
   • The figure of the diaphane, "this clear crystal nature," is a person so perfect that his simple presence would do more for the world than others manage to do through their actions.2004, Didier Eribon, Insult and the Making of the Gay Self, →ISBN, page 168