Frosted glass is translucent, and regular glass is transparent. But opaque glass doesn’t let any light through at all, and so you can’t see through it. The adjective translucent is from Latin translucens, from translucere”to shine through.”

Is opaque glass transparent?

It can be distinguished by its white opaque frosting, which offers a very hazy transparency. However, this is not the same as being opaque. Obscure glass still allows large amounts of light to pass through it, illuminating an area. While an opaque surface, such as a wall, doesn’t allow any light through.

Can glass be opaque?

Glass absorbs different amounts of light at different wavelengths. For UV light it is already virtually opaque, but even for the visible part of the spectrum it isn’t perfectly transparent. An ordinary three-millimetre (0.1-inch) sheet of window glass lets about 91 per cent of light pass.