This has been my favorite word for many years. It comes from the Greek meaning "only lasting for a day."
I always thought about how much of a word's sound- pleasing or unpleasant to our ears- came from its meaning. Is it that words with ugly meanings sound worse because I cannot disassociate them with their meaning? Or is it that the person or persons who created the word gave it a sound that spoke of its meaning? It's probably different depending on the origin of the word.
Anyway, when I told you about this favorite word- numerous times- you would always joke, "You mean you don't like the word cantankerous? That's my favorite word."
Ephemeral- short lived, fleeting, evanescent- it's not a purely "good" meaning. But it certainly seems the most beautiful things are usually the most fleeting. When I say the word, I see a rainbow. Perhaps short-lived does not need to mean cut off, abrupt, truncated...but ephemeral:
precious,
holy,
lovely.