frisson
French, noun/fʁi.sɔ̃/
frisson is spelled F-R-I-S-S-O-N (7 letters) and appears 2.4 times per million words in written French, the 18,424th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Frisson is a French masculine noun meaning “a shiver caused by cold or fever” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Tremblement causé par le froid ou la fièvre”.
What does frisson mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinea shiver caused by cold or fever
- 2
masculinea shiver or thrill of fright that can be strangely pleasurable, as when reading good horror fiction
- 3
masculinean experience of intense excitement
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Tremblement causé par le froid ou la fièvre. 2. Saisissement qui naît de la peur, de la répulsion, de l’horreur, ou au contraire de l’admiration, de l’enthousiasme. 3. Sensation d’émotions légères et même agréables. 4. Léger tremblement, frémissement d'une chose.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of frisson
- frissons plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce frisson?
- /fʁi.sɔ̃/
- \fʁi.sɔ̃\
- [fʁi.sɔ̃]
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to frisson
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is frisson in French?
frisson appears 2.4 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).