frisson

English

WOTD – 2 November 2009

Etymology

Borrowed from French frisson.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹiː.sɔ̃ː/
• IPA^(key): /fɹiˈsoʊn/, /fɹiˈsõʊn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

frisson (plural frissons)

1. A sudden surge of excitement.

   I felt a frisson just as they were about to announce the winner in my category.

2. A shiver, a thrill.

   Whenever the villain's theme played in the movie I felt a sudden frisson down my back.

Translations

a sudden surge of excitement

• Finnish: väristys (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: fremito (it) m

a shiver

• Finnish: väristys (fi)
• Italian: brivido (it)
• Polish: dreszcz (pl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: дрожь (ru) f (drožʹ)
• Spanish: escalofrío (es)

Anagrams

• Frisons

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French

Etymology

From Late Latin *frīctiō, from Latin frīgeō (“to be cold”). Unrelated to the Classical Latin frictiō, borrowed as French friction.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁi.sɔ̃/

• audio:

  (file)

Noun

frisson m (plural frissons)

1. A shiver or thrill of fright that can be strangely pleasurable, as when reading good horror fiction.
2. An experience of intense excitement.

Related terms

• froid

Further reading

• “frisson”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• frisons