fervour means commonwealth and Ireland standard spelling of fervor. It carries an Arena rating of 1400, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, fervour ranks #3,714 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #7,014 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #8,989 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #10,732 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
Why “fervour” is a great word
Intense and passionate feeling or enthusiasm. From Anglo-French *fervur*, from Latin *fervor* ("heat, passion"), from *fervēre* ("to boil, glow"). Unlike "zeal," which implies energetic, tireless devotion to a cause, or "ardour," which suggests a warm, fiery passion often romantic in nature, fervour is the heat itself, the pure intensity of the feeling. It is the raised voice that cracks at the crest of a sermon, the focused heat of a kiln at its peak, the silent, glowing heart of a coal—the moment before action, when feeling is at its purest and most concentrated state.
Etymology
By surface analysis, Latin ferv- + -our (“abstract noun suffix”).
noun
- Commonwealth and Ireland standard spelling of fervor.e.g.“The early Americans, inheriting the Hebraist fervour of the English Puritans, had enjoyed a Great Awakening of religious joy.” — 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 404:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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