20 Fancy Spring Words For Your Budding Vocabulary
As Leo Tolstoy wrote in the classic Anna Karenina, “spring is the time of plans and projects.” To put it more bluntly, spring is a time of new growth, new experiences, and, in most of the world, temperamental weather. To encourage your personal growth during this season of change, why not try out some of these sophisticated vocabulary terms related to spring?
verdurous
Verdurous is an adjective meaning “rich in verdure; freshly green; verdant.” Verdure is a fancy word meaning “greenness, especially of fresh, flourishing vegetation.” The word comes from the Middle French verd, meaning “green.” (The modern French equivalent of this word is vert.)
vernal
An adjective that directly relates to the season is vernal, meaning “of or relating to spring.” It is also used figuratively to mean “belonging to or characteristic of youth,” which is just one of many examples of spring being related to new birth or adolescence. Vernal comes from Latin vernālis, meaning “of spring.”
recrudesce
Many of the words in this list end in the suffixes -esce, -escent, or -escence, which are used to denote the beginning of an action. This makes sense if you consider the overall theme of spring, which is the beginning of new life or new experiences. One such word is recrudesce, “to break out afresh, as a sore, a disease, or anything else that has been quiescent.” Quiescent is another fancy word that means “being at rest.”
frondescence
Another word that describes plants shaking off their winter slumber and waking up to spring is frondescence, “the process or period of putting forth leaves, as a tree, plant, or the like.” The word comes from the Latin frondescēns, “becoming leafy.” If the frond- part of the word looks familiar, that’s probably because the English frond means “an often large, finely divided leaf,” from the Latin frond meaning “branch.”
effloresce
Yet another -esce verb on this list is effloresce, “to burst into bloom, blossom.” In chemistry, however, the verb has a specific meaning to describe a surface becoming covered in a “mealy or powdery substance upon exposure to air” or “covered with crystals of salt.” You can imagine it looks like crystals “blooming” on the surface of a substance.
juvenescence
The word is a noun meaning “youth or immaturity” or “the act or process of growing from childhood to youth.” The juven- part of the word comes from the Latin for “young.” This is ultimately the same Latin root we see in the more familiar juvenile, meaning “young” or “youthful.”
renascent
In the spring, it seems as if everything is renascent after the long, cold winter. Renascent means “being reborn; springing again into being or vigor.” The Latin root of this word can also be seen in the word Renaissance, a term given to the “great revival of art, literature, and learning in Europe beginning in the 14th century and extending to the 17th century,” a time when culture was being reborn after the medieval ages.
incalescent
One of the most pleasant aspects of spring is that the weather is incalescent, or “increasing in heat or ardor.” While this term can be used literally to describe something becoming warm, it is also used to describe a growing romance or love, when things are “heating up.”
provenience
The spring is a time when new things begin. In other words, it is the provenience of many creatures. Provenience means “origin; source.” The word provenience is primarily used in archaeology to describe the spot where an object is found or originated, to differentiate from provenance, which describes the chain of ownership of an object.
risorgimento
A term similar to renascent is risorgimento [ ri-zawr-juh–men-toh ], “any period or instance of rebirth or renewed activity.” When capitalized, it refers to a specific period of Italian history during “the period of or movement for the liberation and unification of Italy, 1750–1870.” As you may have guessed, the word risorgimento comes from Italian for “to rise again.”
pullulate
Pullulate is a verb with a variety of meanings, including “to send forth sprouts, buds, etc.; germinate; sprout” and “to exist abundantly; swarm; teem.” In the spring, plants and animals pullulate. The verb pullulate comes from the Latin pullulāre, meaning “to sprout, bring forth young.” Specifically, a pullus in Latin means “chicken,” which is ultimately the root of the French word for chicken, poulet.
fecundate
A verb related to pullulate is fecundate, “to make prolific or fruitful.” The word fecund and its verb form fecundate is ultimately related to root fētus, “bringing forth of young.” If that word looks familiar, that’s because it’s at the root of the English fetus, “the young of an animal in the womb or egg.” It’s all about the birth of new life.
erumpent
One of the first signs of spring is when the crocuses grow erumpent from the cold, hard earth. Erumpent is an adjective that means “bursting forth.” It is also used particularly to describe fungi or algae “projecting from or bursting through host tissue.” The way that mushrooms pop up on the bark of decomposing trees is a good visualization of the meaning of erumpent.
burgeon
Another word that describes the proliferation of new growth that occurs in the spring is burgeon, “to grow or develop quickly; flourish.” Burgeon is generally used as a verb, but it can also be used as a noun to mean “a bud; sprout.” The origin of burgeon is pretty interesting; it ultimately comes from the Latin burra meaning “wool, fluff,” likely a reference to the down covering certain buds in spring.
redolent
With all of the new flowers blossoming, trees leafing, and the rain making the world smell of wet dirt, one good word to describe spring is redolent, “having a pleasant odor; fragrant.” This is an adjective that is also used figuratively to mean “suggestive; reminiscent [of].” For example, Her poems are redolent of Keats’s sonnets, or they make one think of Keats’s sonnets.
hyetal
Speaking of the general dampness of spring, one good word to describe this weather is hyetal [ hahy-i-tl ], “of or relating to rain or rainfall.” Unlike the majority of the words on this list which have Latin roots, hyetal comes from the Greek hyetós, which means “rain.” This is why the study of rainfall is technically known as hyetography or hyetology.
salubrious
When the gray clouds of winter lift and a crisp spring breeze blows in, the weather feels especially salubrious, “favorable to or promoting health; healthful.” There’s nothing like a little fresh air to perk you up. Salubrious comes from the Latin salūbris, meaning “promoting health.” The word salutary comes from a similar root, and it means “favorable to or promoting health; healthful.”
Chelidonian
One way to describe a spring breeze is Chelidonian, which is what the ancient Greeks called it. The name comes from the Greek for swallow, because the appearance of the spring wind augured their appearance. It was believed that the swallows flew from Africa to Europe on the Chelidonian winds.
bucolic
Another term from Greek we can use to describe the spring is bucolic, which literally means “of or relating to shepherds; pastoral.” However, it is typically used figuratively to describe any pleasant natural or country scene. Historically, a bucolic was a specific kind of “pastoral poem” that describes the peacefulness or beauty of rural life.
vivify
You may feel particularly vivified in the spring months. Vivify is a verb that means “to give life to; animate; quicken.” The root of vivify is the Late Latin vīvificāre, which roughly translates to “to make live.”
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