fizzy

Etymology

It is formed from English fizz + -y.^[2][3][4][5] The verb, recorded from 1665, imitates a hissing or sputtering sound,^[2][6][4][7] and the OED and Barnhart compare fizzle.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Given to fizzing, effervescent: 1855, in the Saturday Review.^[2] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1850–55,^[5] and Etymonline to 1885.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The OED records figurative use alongside the literal sense.^[2] As a noun, fizzy or fizzey was slang for champagne by 1843, in Surtees,^[8] and the OED records the noun for any fizzy drink from 1896, in Kipling.^[2] In New Zealand fizzy is a colloquial name for a fizzy soft drink.^[9] Wodehouse used the adjective of people for "full of energy, excitable" from 1934,^[8] part of a wider pattern of describing excitement in terms of noise that dates from the second half of the 19th century.^[10] In Northumberland dialect fizzy meant well or cleverly done, smart.^[11] The derivatives fizzily and fizziness are recorded from the late 20th century.^[3]

Timeline

• 1843 – noun, champagne, in Surtees.^[8] The OED's first record of the noun, for a fizzy drink, is from Kipling in 1896.^[2]
• 1855 – given to fizzing, effervescent.^[2]
• 1934 – of people, energetic, excitable, in Wodehouse.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Containing bubbles of gas; effervescent: a glass of fizzy lemonade.^[7][3][2]
2. Lively, full of energy.^[8][1]

Noun

1. A fizzy drink, such as champagne; in New Zealand, a fizzy soft drink.^[2][9]

Word family

• fizzily
• fizziness

Related words

• fizz
• fizzle

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ a b Deverson, Tony; Kennedy, Graeme, eds. (2005), The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, Auckland: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus, University of Glasgow, mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)