It's the Word of the Day podcast for March 2nd.

Today's word is exhilarate, spelled E-X-H-I-L-A-R-A-T-E. Exilerate is a verb.

It means to cause someone to feel very happy and excited. It's usually

used in the passive voice, as in to be exhilarated. Here's the word used. In a sentence from the

Chicago Tribune, I'll say it, winter is my favorite season for jazz in Chicago. Summer may be

busier and splashier, but there's

nothing quite like nestling into a darkened club, cheeks flushed from the cold, for a singular

and inventive night of music. It does more than thaw frozen fingers. It exhilarates, inspires, and

inflames in the best way. Many people find the word exhilarates, inspires, and inflames in the best way.

Many people find the word exhilarate, a difficult one to spell.

It's easy to forget that silent H in there, and is it an ER or AR after the L?

It may be easier to remember the spelling if you know that exhilarate ultimately comes from the Latin adjective, Hilarius, meaning cheerful.

This also explains why the earliest meaning of exhilarate is to make cheerful.

Exilerate comes from ex-Hiliratus, a form of ex-hilarae, which combines X with Hilarare, a verb from hilarus that means to cheer or gladden.

If hilarus looks familiar, that may be because it's also the source of the word hilarious and the word hilarity,

as well as hilariously and hilariousness, of course.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups.