Ardent

How to spell ardent

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce ardent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does ardent mean?

1. adjectiveShowing intense feeling, enthusiasm, or devotion towards something.

Ardent in a sentence

• She became an ardent supporter of the local theatre after years of attending its plays.

• His ardent belief in the project convinced the investors to commit more money.

Where does ardent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin verb ardere, which literally meant 'to burn' or 'to be on fire'. Its present participle ardens, ardentem, described something that was actively blazing or glowing with heat. English took the word in the 1300s through Old French ardant, at first using it in the literal sense of burning or fiercely hot. Over time the meaning shifted almost entirely to the figurative one, so that today an ardent supporter or an ardent admirer is 'on fire' with passion rather than with flames. The same Latin root still glows inside related words such as 'arson' (the crime of setting fires) and the rare 'ardour', and remembering that buried idea of burning helps fix the -ent ending, since it descends from a Latin participle rather than the look-alike -ant.

How the word is built

• ard- (from Latin ardere: to burn)
• -ent (adjective suffix forming a present participle)