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Frisson and Shiver
A chill down one’s spine isn’t always a sensation of fear or suspense. As Daniel Marenco writes, “What is most exciting about literature is how much it surprises us and makes us fall in love. Poetry especially has this gift, the gift of provoking in us a frisson, a shiver, this capacity, like a bee, to put honey on the tip of our tongue, provoking that pleasant sensation of feeling and perceiving.” His relating of frisson and shiver is apt given that frisson comes from the French word for “shiver.” (Those familiar with shivering will note that it’s also apt that frisson traces back to ultimately to Late Latin frīgēre “to be cold” or frīgēscere “to become cold.”) A frisson can be compared to a thrill or a rush, as it refers to a brief moment of emotional excitement, as in “a frisson of surprise.”
Synonyms
Examples of frisson in a Sentence
Madeline Leung Coleman, Vulture, 21 Oct. 2024
Certainly there is beauty and awe to fill anyone’s soul, but does a chill draft blow through there as well, leeching ice into the spirit and sending a frisson of tingles down one’s spine?
—Phil Plait, Scientific American, 25 Oct. 2024
This Saturday's matchup between the No. 1 Longhorns and No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs will carry some football frisson.
—Asher Price, Axios, 16 Oct. 2024
Like Prince before them, Tumor shines up each element of their production to such a precise degree that the whole recording thrums with erotic frisson: the gyrating pull of perfect individuals in motion.
—Pitchfork, 1 Oct. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Frisson.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frisson. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.
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