WORD OF THE DAY: ÉLAN

WORD OF THE DAY: ÉLAN

noun   |   ay-LAHN

Élan refers to energy and enthusiasm.

// The dancers performed with great style and élan; we were exhausted just watching them.

EXAMPLE OF ÉLAN

“Carrying the production with the élan of a cheerful college quarterback, [Luke] Brady is an immediately likable leading man …” — Matt Wolf, The New York Times, 25 June 2025

DID YOU KNOW?

Once upon a time, back in the early 18th century, English speakers did not have élan (the word, that is; we have always had the potential for vigorous spirit). We had, however, the verb elance, meaning “to throw,” which was used for the launching of darts, javelins, and similar weaponry. Elance came from the Middle French (s’)eslancer, meaning “to rush” (that is, “to hurl oneself forth”). Elance enjoyed only a short flight in English, falling into disuse by the mid-19th century, around which time English speakers picked up élan, another French word that traces back, via the Middle French noun eslan (“rush”), to (s’)eslancer. We copied élan in form from the French, but we dispensed with the French sense of a literal “rush” or “dash,” retaining the sense of enthusiastic animation that we sometimes also characterise as dash, spunk, or vim.

Merriam Webster Dictionary