effulgent

/ɪˈfʌldʒ(ə)nt/

Etymology

From Latin effulgēns (“flashing, glittering”), present participle of effulgeō (“to shine or gleam forth, flash, glitter”), from ē- (variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘out; away’)) + fulgeō (“to flash, gleam, glisten, glitter, shine”) (from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shiny; white”)). By surface analysis, ef- + Latin fulg(ere) + -ent.

Why this word is great

EFFULGENT — [Adjective] Radiant, resplendent, shining brightly. From Latin effulgēns ("flashing, glittering"), present participle of effulgēre ("to shine forth"), from ex- ("out") + fulgēre ("to shine"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ("shiny; white"). Unlike "luminous" (which suggests a steady, soft glow) or "glittering" (which implies scattered, intermittent flashes), "effulgent" is the overwhelming, sustained brilliance that forces the eyes to turn away. It is the midday sun reflecting off a sea of polished marble, the molten gold of a just-lit forge, or the sudden, unbearable whiteness of a snowfield under midday sun—a radiance so intense it borders on violence, reminding us that light, too, can be a kind of annihilation.

adj

Radiant, resplendent, shining.“Thus all day long the full-diſtended clouds / Indulge their genial ſtores, and well-ſhower'd earth / Is deep enrich'd with vegetable life; / Till, in the weſtern ſky, the downward ſun / Looks out, effulgent, from amid the fluſh / Of broken clouds, gay-ſhifting to his beam.”