resplendent

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English resplendent,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French resplendent, recorded in Old French from the 13th century,^[4] and directly borrowed from Latin resplendēns, the present participle of resplendeō (“to shine brightly”),^[4][5][2] formed from re- and splendeō (“to shine”).^[3][5][6] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged treat the Latin word as the main source, with French at most an influence,^[7][8] and Etymonline gives the Old French form as resplendant.^[5] The prefix is read differently: Merriam-Webster Unabridged glosses the Latin verb "to shine back",^[8] while the Oxford Dictionary of English and Barnhart take the prefix as intensive, and Etymonline as perhaps intensive.^[9][7][5] The OED compares Catalan resplendent of the 14th century and Italian risplendente of the 13th.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of colour, brilliant: about 1440, in the English translation of Palladius, where a wine treated in a certain way is said to keep and to "in colour be resplendent and pure".^[2][4][5] Dictionary.com dates the word 1400–50, and the noun resplendence is recorded probably before 1425.^[10][7]

Semantic evolution

From the colour of a wine the word widened to anything that shines brilliantly, and to things splendid or sumptuous in a figurative way.^[4][2] The spelling resplendant was frequent in the 16th and 17th centuries.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as bright and shining, having a beautiful lustre, and quoted Camden's "resplendent in all glory" and Spenser's "resplendent gold".^[11] Collins now defines it by a brilliant or splendid appearance.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – brilliant in colour; shining.^[4][2]
• 16th–17th centuries – often spelled resplendant.^[5]
• mid 18th century – the adverb resplendently.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Shining brilliantly; dazzlingly bright or lustrous: a lake resplendent in the morning sun.^[8][13]
2. Splendid or magnificent in appearance: The mayor arrived resplendent in scarlet robes.^[12][4]

Word family

• resplendence
• resplendently
• unresplendent
• resplendency

Related words

• splendid
• splendor
• resplend

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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)
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press