• effervescent •
Pronunciation: ef-êr-ve-sênt • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: 1. Producing bubbles. 2. Lively, animate, in high spirits (personality).
Notes: The noun for this word is created by adding either of the popular suffixes -s to it and spelling the results effervescence and effervescency. The adverb is the expectable effervescently. It is the active adjective of the verb (to) effervesce, no doubt a back formation from today's word.
In Play: We hear the literal sense of this word in expressions like this: "Barbie Dahl prefers flavored effervescent water to plain water." However, the figurative sense is lurking there in it: "Maybe that is why she is herself so effervescent all the time."
Word History: Today's Good Word was borrowed directly from Latin effervescen(t)s "boiling over", the present participles of effervescere "to boil over", comprising an assimilated form of ex "out, (away) from" + fervere "to be hot, boil". Latin made fervere out of PIE bhreu- "to boil, bubble, be wild", source also of Sanskrit bhurnih "violent, passionate;" Greek phrear "well, spring, cistern;" Irish bruth "heat", Welsh berwi "to boil", Breton birviñ "to boil", Russian burya "storm", Polish burza "storm", German brennen "to burn", brauen "to brew", braten "roast", and Bier "beer", Dutch brouwen "to brew" and branden "to burn", English , burn, brand, and brown. (Now for an effervescent thank-you to Tomasz Kowaltowski for sharing this bubbly Good Word with us today.)
