Burgeon

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈbɜː.d͡ʒən/

Definitions

1. To grow or expand quickly in size or number
2. To increase or develop rapidly and abundantly
3. To flourish or thrive by rapid growth or expansion

Etymology: Before it meant to flourish, "burgeon" was about buds themselves. Its Middle English ancestor "burjon" meant "shoot" or "bud," and it came through Anglo-Norman from the Old French "burjon," also "bud." Behind that lies an Old Frankish word meaning "sprout, offshoot, descendant," which grew out of a Germanic verb meaning "to raise up." The same family tree produced Old English "byrian," "to come up, occur," and "byre," a word for a child or descendant, so the sense of new life pushing upward is built into the word from the start. The verb was not always about rapid growth. The original image is of a plant putting out new buds, and English speakers kept that botanical picture as the word moved from noun to verb. A separate Middle English verb, "burjounen," borrowed from Old French "borjoner," shows the same idea taking verbal form, and the modern sense of swelling or expanding quickly grew from it.

Synonyms: grow, expand, flourish

Antonyms: shrivel, decline