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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for May 19, 1999
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frisson [n. free-SONE]
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A frisson is a brief moment of thrilling excitement, like a quick,
emotional shudder. Example: "Jerry felt a sudden frisson of terror
when the snorting bull turned to face him."
This word came into English through Old French, from fricon (shiver),
which is pronounced the same as our English word. There's a
connection with coldness, which is often the reason for shivers, and
that connection had an influence on the evolution of the word. But
the connection is a result of a lexical error.
The Old French fricon came from Latin frictio (friction). Normally,
friction is associated with heat, not cold. But it was once thought
that the root of frictio was Latin frigere (to be cold). Actually,
the root was fricare (to rub). Through the false association of
frictio and coldness, Old French fricon came to mean "shiver," and our
word frisson arose with its current meaning.
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