gossamer

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• Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɡɒ.sə.mə/
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• General-American: /ˈɡɑ.sə.mɚ/
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• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• CMU ARPABET: G AA1 S AH0 M ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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From Middle English gossomer, gosesomer, gossummer (attested since around 1300, and only in reference to webs or other light things), usually thought to derive from gos (“goose”) + somer (“summer”) and to have initially referred to a period of warm weather in late autumn when geese were eaten — compare Middle Scots goesomer, goe-summer (“summery weather in late autumn; St Martin's summer”) and dialectal English go-harvest, both later connected in folk-etymology to go — and to have been transferred to cobwebs because they were frequent then or because they were likened to goose-down. Skeat says that in Craven the webs were called summer-goose, and compares Scots and dialectal English use of summer-colt in reference to "exhalations seen rising from the ground in hot weather". Weekley notes that both the webs and the weather have fantastical names in most European languages: compare German Altweibersommer (“Indian summer; cobwebs, gossamer”, literally “old wives' summer”) and other terms listed there.

70 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Finnish: seitinohut — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Finnish: harsomainen — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Ido: filandra — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Italian: sottile — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Italian: delicato — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Māori: angiangi — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Polish: cienki — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Russian: то́нкий (tónkij) — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Welsh: ysgafn — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Welsh: main — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Welsh: gwawnaidd — tenuous, light, filmy or delicate
• Bulgarian: есенна паяжина (esenna pajažina) — cobwebs floating in the air
• Chinese Mandarin: 游絲 /游丝 (yóusī) — cobwebs floating in the air
• Chinese Mandarin: 蛛絲 /蛛丝 (zhūsī) — cobwebs floating in the air
• Czech: babí léto — cobwebs floating in the air
• Dutch: herfstdraad — cobwebs floating in the air
• Finnish: harso — cobwebs floating in the air
• Finnish: seitti — cobwebs floating in the air
• French: fil de la vierge — cobwebs floating in the air
• French: fils de la Vierge — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Altweiberfäden — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Flugfäden — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Frauenfäden — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Herbstfäden — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Herbstgarn — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Liebfrauenfäden — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Marienfäden — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Mariengarn — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Marienhaar — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Marienseide — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Sommerfäden — cobwebs floating in the air
• German: Sommerseide — cobwebs floating in the air
• Hungarian: ökörnyál — cobwebs floating in the air
• Irish: téada an phúca — cobwebs floating in the air
• Japanese: 流れ糸 (nagareito) — cobwebs floating in the air
• Japanese: 遊糸 (yuushi) — cobwebs floating in the air
• Korean: 거미줄 (geomijul) — cobwebs floating in the air
• Manx: sneeuane — cobwebs floating in the air
• Polish: babie lato — cobwebs floating in the air
• Romanian: funigel — cobwebs floating in the air
• Russian: паути́нка (pautínka) — cobwebs floating in the air
• Russian: паути́на (pautína) — cobwebs floating in the air
• Scottish Gaelic: croisean Moire — cobwebs floating in the air
• Scottish Gaelic: gaoir-theas — cobwebs floating in the air
• Serbo-Croatian: bablje ljeto — cobwebs floating in the air
• Swedish: spindelväv — cobwebs floating in the air
• Uzbek: mezon — cobwebs floating in the air
• Welsh: gwawn — cobwebs floating in the air
• Welsh: tidau'r tes — cobwebs floating in the air
• Welsh: blew Medi — cobwebs floating in the air
• Welsh: drifl y gwynt — cobwebs floating in the air
• Welsh: drifl yr ych — cobwebs floating in the air
• Welsh: hifryn — cobwebs floating in the air
• Bulgarian: воал (voal) — a soft, sheer fabric
• Chinese Mandarin: 薄紗 /薄纱 (báoshā) — a soft, sheer fabric
• Czech: flór — a soft, sheer fabric
• Dutch: ragfijn weefsel — a soft, sheer fabric
• Finnish: harso — a soft, sheer fabric
• Finnish: seitti — a soft, sheer fabric
• Hungarian: fátyolszövet — a soft, sheer fabric
• Japanese: 薄い紗 (usui sha) — a soft, sheer fabric
• Polish: lekka tkanina — a soft, sheer fabric
• Russian: газ (gaz) — a soft, sheer fabric
• Russian: ткань (tkanʹ) — a soft, sheer fabric
• Swedish: flor — a soft, sheer fabric
• Welsh: meinwe — a soft, sheer fabric
• Dutch: delicaat — anything delicate, light, flimsy
• Japanese: 流れ糸のように繊細なかぼそいもの — anything delicate, light, flimsy
• Japanese: 流れ糸のように繊細なはかないもの — anything delicate, light, flimsy
• Polish: delikatny przedmiot — anything delicate, light, flimsy