A dewdrop is a tiny sphere of water that forms on grass, leaves, spider webs, and other surfaces during cool nights. When the air cools down after sunset, invisible water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into liquid droplets, the same way a cold glass of lemonade gets wet on the outside on a hot day. By morning, these droplets cling to everything outdoors, sparkling like miniature crystals in the early sunlight.

Dewdrops are often nearly round because water molecules are attracted to each other through surface tension, pulling the droplet toward the shape that uses the least surface area: a sphere. If you look closely at a dewdrop on a blade of grass, you might see the whole world reflected and magnified inside it, upside down and curved like a tiny fisheye lens.

The word captures something fleeting and delicate. Dewdrops evaporate quickly once the sun warms them, which is why poets and writers often use dewdrop as a metaphor for anything beautiful but temporary. When someone describes a moment as delicate as a dewdrop, they mean it won't last long, so it should be appreciated while it lasts.