A sudden brief sensation of excitement or thrill, often accompanied by a physical shiver or shudder..
A sudden brief sensation of excitement or thrill, often accompanied by a physical shiver or shudder.
Acute, momentary, and physically embodied (a shiver/chill, e.g., from music), unlike the sustained states of dread or contentment. Essentially neutral-to-positive arousal that can attach to thrill, fear, or aesthetic pleasure.
From French frisson “fever; shiver, thrill,” from Latin frigere “to be cold.”
“Emotional thrill,” 1777 (first used by Horace Walpole), from French frisson (12c.), from Latin frigere “to be cold.”
Entered English in 1777 meaning an “emotional thrill”; remained rare until the late 19th c. The French source ranged over “fever/shiver/thrill,” but English focused on the thrill/shiver sense. Now also a technical term in music psychology for the chill response.