sizzle

Etymology

It is imitative,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} and the OED compares sizz and fizzle.^[2] The American Heritage Dictionary, Barnhart and Etymonline take it as perhaps a frequentative of Middle English sissen (“to hiss, buzz”),^[8][9][10] recorded before 1325,^[9][11] which the Middle English Dictionary derives from Middle Dutch and Middle Low German;^[11] Barnhart compares Middle Dutch cissen and Dutch sissen, also Low German sissen.^[9] Merriam-Webster takes it as perhaps a frequentative of siss,^[12] and Collins compares West Frisian size and siizje.^[13] Weekley compares German zischen (“to hiss”).^[14] The ending is the frequentative -le.^[9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To burn or scorch so as to make a hissing sound: 1603, in S. Harsnett's Declaration of Popish Impostures.^[2][9][12] Etymonline dates it to about 1600.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word first described the scorching itself, and only later the hissing sound: the intransitive use for the hiss of something frying or roasting appears before 1825 in R. Forby's Vocabulary of East Anglia,^[2][9] and the noun, a hissing sound, in 1823 in Edward Moor's Suffolk Words and Phrases.^[2][9] In Antrim dialect the verb was recorded for a hissing sound.^[15] Figurative uses of the verb date from 1859,^[2][10] and of the noun from 1901.^[10] Figuratively the verb came to mean to be very hot, exciting or risqué,^[3][13] and the noun came to mean excitement or pizzazz.^[12][3] In American underworld slang of 1929 to sizzle was to execute someone in the electric chair, and in 1969 sizzle was a package of narcotics carried on the person.^[16]

Timeline

• 1603 – transitive, to burn or scorch with a hissing sound.^[2][9][12]
• 1823 – noun, a hissing sound, as of frying.^[2][9][12]
• before 1825 – intransitive, to hiss while frying or roasting.^[2][9]
• 1859 – figurative use of the verb.^[2][10]
• 1901 – figurative use of the noun.^[10]
• 1929 – US underworld slang, to execute in the electric chair.^[16]
• 1969 – US slang, narcotics carried on the person.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a hissing sound, as fat or food does when frying: Onions sizzled in the pan.^[13][12][2]
2. (informal) To be very hot: The town sizzled through a week of record heat.^[13][3]
3. (informal) To be very angry; to seethe.^[13]
4. To be exciting, or risqué.^[3]
5. To burn or sear with scorching heat, typically with a hissing sound.^[12][2][3]
6. To attack someone with heated words.^[12]

Noun

1. A hissing sound, as of something frying.^[13][12][2]
2. Excitement or pizzazz: The new chef added some sizzle to the menu.^[12][3]

Word family

• sizzlingly
• sizzler

Related words

• fizz
• fizzle
• siss
• sizz

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com