exuberant

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exūberāns (“overabundant”), the present participle of exūberō (“to be abundant, grow luxuriantly”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which is formed from ex-, here meaning "thoroughly", and ūberō (“to be fruitful”),^[3][4][7] from ūber (“fertile, fruitful”).^[2][6][8] The adjective is a use of the noun meaning "udder",^[7][8][2] related to udder and traced by Etymonline to Proto-Indo-European *eue-dh-r-.^[3] It may also be partly borrowed from Middle French exubérant, as Merriam-Webster, Barnhart and the Oxford dictionaries take it;^{[9][4][10][11]} Merriam-Webster gives the Middle English form exuberaunt.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Overabundant: in a text of 1459, preserved in a copy of about 1475, which speaks of "the exuberant cortesye of this noble place".^[12][4] Etymonline dates the word to the mid 15th century, also as "over-abundant",^[3] but the OED's first record is from about 1504.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The early sense was simply "abounding, overflowing",^[13][11] and the Latin verb had been used of a river overflowing its banks.^[2] From the early 16th century the word was used of plants growing luxuriantly or in excess,^[2][3] and of people effusive in showing their feelings, which became the usual modern sense, "overflowing with high spirits".^[2][13][4] The 17th century added "luxuriantly fertile", "overflowing" of streams, "copious, lavishly ornamented" of style, and "lavish, profuse" of wealth and spending.^[2][10] Johnson (1755) still put the botanical sense first, "growing with superfluous shoots; overabundant", quoting Thomson's Spring.^[14]

Timeline

• 1459 – overabundant.^[12][4]
• c. 1504 – of people, effusive in showing feeling; later, full of high spirits.^[2] Barnhart dates the sense of abounding in health and spirits 1503.^[4]
• before 1513 – growing luxuriantly; produced in excess.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1510s.^[3]
• 1654 – of style, copious, lavishly ornamented.^[2]
• 1659 – of feelings or health, overflowing, abounding.^[2] Etymonline dates the figurative use to the 1640s.^[3]
• before 1660 – luxuriantly fertile, abundantly productive.^[2]
• 1678 – of a fountain or stream, overflowing.^[2]
• 1686 – of wealth or spending, lavish, profuse.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Full of joyous, unrestrained high spirits and enthusiasm: The exuberant fans poured onto the field.^[9][15]
2. Full of life; vivacious.^[9][15]
3. Lavish or effusive; excessively elaborate: an exuberant style of decoration.^[15][2]
4. Growing luxuriantly or in profusion: exuberant weeds.^[15][2][10]
5. Of a fountain or stream, overflowing.^[2][10]

Word family

• exuberantly
• overexuberant
• unexuberant

Related words

• exuberance
• udder

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
13. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins