coup de foudre means A sudden unexpected event, especially an emotional one; love at first sight. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 91 out of 100.
Why “coup de foudre” is a great word
COUP DE FOUDRE — [Noun] A sudden, overwhelming event, especially the phenomenon of love at first sight. From French coup de foudre, literally 'stroke (or bolt) of lightning', from coup ('blow, stroke') and foudre ('lightning, thunderbolt'). Unlike 'infatuation' (which suggests a foolish, transient passion) or 'whirlwind romance' (which charts a relationship's frantic course), a coup de foudre is the catastrophic, singular instant of inception. It is the searing white fissure that splits a darkened sky, the seismic shudder that reconfigures a personal geography, and the irrevocable knowledge in a stranger's glance that divides a life into before and after. This is less an emotion than a permanent rearrangement—a testament that the soul is not immune to physics.
noun
- A sudden unexpected event, especially an emotional one; love at first sight.“The encounter with Laura that Good Friday was a coup de foudre, and for the rest of his life he was to adore her, mostly from afar.”