shudder

English

Etymology

From Middle English schoderen, from Middle Dutch schudderen and/or Middle Low German schodderen, iterative forms of the verb at hand in Dutch schudden, Low German schüdden (both “to shake”), German schütten (“to pour”), from Proto-Germanic *skudjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skewdʰ-. From Low German are also borrowed German schaudern (“to shudder”), Danish skudre.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃʌd.ə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃʌd.ɚ/, [ˈʃʌɾ.ɚ]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Homophone: shutter (accents with flapping)
• Rhymes: -ʌdə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: shud‧der

Verb

shudder (third-person singular simple present shudders, present participle shuddering, simple past and past participle shuddered)

1. (intransitive) To shake nervously, often from fear or horror.

   On seeing the spider under his pillow, John shuddered.

   • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC; 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], 1594, →OCLC, signature Fiij, verso, lines [879–880]:

     VVreath'd vp in fatall folds iuſt in his way, / The feare where of doth make him ſhake, & ſhudder, […]

   • 1929, William Butler Yeats, Mad as the Mist and Snow:

     What makes me shudder so? / I shudder and I sigh to think / That even Cicero / And many-minded Homer were / Mad as the mist and snow.

2. (intransitive) To vibrate jerkily.

Synonyms

• (shake nervously): palpitate, shiver, shake, quake
• (vibrate jerkily): flutter, jiggle, shake, wiggle

Derived terms

• shudderer

Translations

to shake nervously, as if from fear

• Albanian: fërgëlloj (sq)
• Czech: třást se
• Dutch: huiveren (nl)
• Finnish: väristä (fi), vavista (fi), tutista (fi), puistattaa (fi)
• French: frissonner (fr), trembler (fr)
• German: schaudern (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: φρίσσω (phríssō), ῥιγέω (rhigéō)

• Hebrew: הִתְפַּלֵּץ‎ (he) (hitpalétz)
• Icelandic: skjálfa (is), hrylla við
• Italian: tremare (it)
• Latin: tremō, trepidō
• Maori: oi, winiwini, hihikiwi, hāwiniwini, wiwini, ihiihi
• Old English: āgrīsan
• Polish: wzdrygać się impf, wzdrygnąć się pf
• Portuguese: tremer (pt), tiritar (pt)
• Romanian: tremura (ro)
• Russian: содрога́ться (ru) (sodrogátʹsja), дрожа́ть (ru) (drožátʹ)
• Sanskrit: त्रसति (sa) (trásati)
• Scottish Gaelic: plosg, crith
• Swedish: rysa (sv)
• Ukrainian: здрига́тися impf (zdryhátysja)

to vibrate jerkily

• Bulgarian: изтръпвам (bg) (iztrǎpvam), потръпвам (bg) (potrǎpvam)
• Czech: třást se
• Finnish: väristä (fi), vavista (fi), tutista (fi)
• French: frissonner (fr), trembler (fr)
• German: zittern (de)
• Icelandic: skjálfa (is), hrylla við
• Maori: oioi, ngateri, māueue
• Romanian: tremura (ro), vibra (ro)
• Scottish Gaelic: plosg, crith

Noun

shudder (plural shudders)

1. A shivering tremor, often from fear or horror.

   Seeing the spider under his pillow gave John a shudder.

2. A moment of almost pleasurable fear; a frisson.
   • c. 1816, Lord Byron, When we Two parted:

     They name thee before me, / ⁠A knell to mine ear; / A shudder comes o'er me— / ⁠Why wert thou so dear?

   • 1906 January, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], chapter 22, in A Son of the People: A Romance of the Hungarian Plains, London: Greening & Co., →OCLC:

     … and was not that slight tremble, a shudder which went through her young body, when his kiss, glowing and scorching with his wild passion, had dared to touch her tiny ice-cold hand?

Synonyms

• (shivering tremor): jiggle, quake, rumble, quiver
• (frisson): shiver (cold), quiver, tingle, thrill

Derived terms

• shudder quote

Translations

shivering tremor

• Azerbaijani: üşütmə, titrətmə, vicvicə
• Bulgarian: треперене (bg) n (treperene), потръпване (bg) n (potrǎpvane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 戰慄／战栗 (zh) (zhànlì) or 戰栗／战栗 (zh) (zhànlì), 觳觫 (zh) (húsù)

• Czech: třesot m, třes (cs) m, třesavka f
• Dutch: rilling (nl)
• Finnish: väristys (fi), vapina, tutina, puistatus (fi)
• French: tremblement (fr) m, frisson (fr) m
• Galician: arrepío m, calafrío (gl) m
• German: Schauder (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: φρίκη f (phríkē), φρικασμός m (phrikasmós)

• Icelandic: hrollur (is) m, skjálfti (is) m
• Italian: brivido (it), sussulto (it) m, tremolio (it) m
• Maori: ngatari, ngateri
• Old French: friçon m
• Persian: چندش‎ (fa) (čendeš)
• Portuguese: arrepio (pt) m, calafrio (pt) m
• Romanian: tremur (ro) n, fiori m pl
• Russian: содрога́ние (ru) n (sodrogánije), дрожь (ru) f (drožʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: crith f
• Spanish: escalofrío (es) m
• Ukrainian: здрига́ння n (zdryhánnja)

moment of almost pleasurable fear; a frisson

• Czech: zachvění n se
• Finnish: väristys (fi)
• French: frisson (fr) m
• German: (wohliger) Schauder m
• Icelandic: hrollur (is) m
• Maori: oinga
• Romanian: fior (ro)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} skrekkblandet fryd (2)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} escalofrío (es) m

See also

• judder