Brilliant

How to spell brilliant

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce brilliant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does brilliant mean?

1. adjectiveExceptionally clever, impressive, or excellent.
2. adjectiveVery bright, vivid, or sparkling with light.

Brilliant in a sentence

• The engineer proposed a brilliant solution to the budget problem.

• The diamond gave off a brilliant flash under the shop lights.

• Her brilliant presentation won the contract for the firm.

• The morning sky turned a brilliant shade of blue over the harbour.

Where does brilliant come from?

Language of origin: French

Brilliant came into English in the late 1600s from the French brillant, which is the present participle of the verb briller, meaning 'to shine' or 'to sparkle'. The French verb was itself borrowed from the Italian brillare, 'to shine like a beryl', and many scholars trace it back further to beryllus, the Latin name for the pale green gemstone beryl, prized for its glassy glitter. The earliest English uses kept this literal sparkle, describing jewels, light, and polished surfaces, and a 'brilliant' even became the technical name for a particular many-faceted diamond cut. From the dazzle of light the meaning was extended to people and ideas that seem to shine with cleverness, and in British everyday speech it softened further into a general word for 'excellent'. The doubled l survives straight from the French spelling, which is the usual trap: writers remember the shine but forget the second l or drift toward an '-iant' ending.

How the word is built

• brill- (to shine, from Italian brillare)
• -ant (adjective suffix forming 'shining')