Effervescent means giving off bubbles — or bubbling over with high spirits. Fizzy, one way or the other.
The literal sense belongs to drinks and to tablets that dissolve, and an effervescent tablet is the standard description on a packet. The figurative sense describes people, and calling somebody effervescent means they are lively and enthusiastic in a way that lifts a room. Both come from the same Latin root about boiling up. The noun is effervescence and the verb effervesce is rare.
1adjectiveeffervescentGiving off bubbles of gas.
“Drop the effervescent tablet into a glass of water.”
2adjectivelivelyLively and enthusiastic.
“She was effervescent company all evening.”
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰrewh₁-
Latin
effervescens
English, today
effervescent
From Latin effervescens, from effervescere, from ex- + fervescere, from fervere. by surface analysis, ef- + ferv- + -escent.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 14 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word