Exhilaration
/ɪɡˌzɪl.əˈreɪ.ʃən/noun
A feeling of great excitement and joyful energy.
Did you know?Exhilaration comes from Latin *exhilarare*, literally “to make cheerful,” built from *hilaris* (“cheerful”), the same ancient root behind words like *hilarious*.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ǵʰel-
“to shine, gleam, or be bright”
Ancient Greek
Greek
hilaros
“cheerful, merry, kindly”
Latin
Latin
hilaris
“cheerful, lively”
Latin
Latin
exhilarare
“to cheer up, make lively”
Late Middle English
Anglo-French
exhilaracioun
“the act of making cheerful or enlivening”
Modern English
English
exhilaration
“a state of lively excitement and joy”