frisson

frisson

English

WOTD – 2 November 2009

Etymology

Borrowed from French frisson.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: (US) -oʊn

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.

   • 1989, Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces, Faber & Faber, published 2009:

     As a perversion of freedom it was, like any perversion, erotic; as alienation it carried the frisson of having just missed the brass ring, a sensation that always brought one back for more.

2. A shiver; a thrill.

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

   • 2008 November 5, Charles McGrath, “Builder of Windup Realms That Thrillingly Run Amok”, in The New York Times‎, ISSN 0362-4331:

     All the Crichton books depend to a certain extent on a little frisson of fear and suspense: that’s what kept you turning the pages.

Translations

a sudden surge of excitement

Finnish: väristys (fi) German: Nervenkitzel (de) m, Erregung (de) f, Anwandlung (de) f Hungarian: borzongás (hu) Italian: fremito (it) m

a shiver

Finnish: väristys (fi) German: Schauder (de) m, Schauer (de) m, Zittern n Hungarian: hidegrázás (hu) Italian: brivido (it) Polish: dreszcz (pl) m 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