Radiant

How to spell radiant

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce radiant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does radiant mean?

1. adjectiveSending out light, warmth, or visible happiness; glowing.

Radiant in a sentence

• The bride looked radiant as she walked down the aisle.

• The new heater filled the small office with radiant warmth.

Where does radiant come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin radius, which literally meant a ray, a beam, or the spoke of a wheel. From radius came the verb radiare, meaning 'to shine out' or 'to emit beams of light', and its present participle radiant-, meaning 'shining' or 'beaming'. English took the word in through Old French in the fifteenth century, first describing things that literally gave off light, and only later extending it to faces and expressions that seemed to glow with health or joy. The same Latin radius still lives openly in 'radius', 'radio', and 'radiation', all of which share the idea of something spreading outward from a centre. The spelling trap sits in the ending: it is -ant, not -ent, a hint preserved from the Latin participle radiant-.

How the word is built

• radi- (from Latin radius: ray, beam)
• -ant (adjective suffix meaning 'doing or being')