Spring has sprung in all its glory, and what better way to celebrate the beginning of the end of darkness and rain than by defining a new word? How about fierce? Yes, fierce, rather like the weather we’ve been experiencing lately. I must thank Project Runway’s Christian Siriano for repopularizing this “hot mess” of a word.

To be fierce is to have a severe or ardent nature. It’s a strong adjective that can be used to describe people, places or things that behave like wild beasts. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the meaning of fierce can range from the cruel and merciless to the intensely passionate. It has a slightly better connotation than ferocious, which is a close synonym that more readily refers to wanton cruelty. No, something that is fierce can indeed be terrible to behold (such as an early spring storm) but it can also be misunderstood, in a zealous sort of way (like a misplaced color scheme or unintentional fashion disaster).

But moving on.

The word comes from the Middle English fiers, which comes from the Latin ferus, meaning “wild,” in reference to an animal, or “untamed” (like a herd). It shares this same root word with feral, which might help you get an idea of its sheer animal force.

It was first used in the descriptive sense (of people) in written English, strictly speaking, in the 14th century. Among the first to use the word was no less a figure than Geoffrey Chaucer, in his poetic work Anelida and Arcite, in about 1374, with the line, “Yow fiers god of armes Mars the rede.” It may interest you to know that this poem was written in the same style as “The Knight’s Tale,” the first story in The Canterbury Tales.

Speaking of literary giants, Shakespeare also used this word in about 1607 in one of his lesser-known plays, The Tragedy of Coriolanus, in act one, scene four, line 57, “A Souldier … not fierce and terrible Onely in strokes.” The play, as its title suggests, is a tragedy about Gaius Marcius Coriolanus, a mythical Roman general of the fifth century. To summarize the plot: Lots of people get betrayed and there’s plenty of blood. So one could say that it’s a fierce play, in the ghastly sense.

According to the OED, the more figurative meaning of fierce in a non-animalistic sense can first be found in 1377, in William Langland’s The Vision of William Concerning Piers Plowman, an allegorical poem that describes a man’s slightly satirical spiritual quest. The character’s name is Will, by the way (what a wonderful coincidence). Anyway, the line in question is, “To affaiten hire flesshe at fierce was to synne.” Langland was a mysterious scholar who used allegory to translate complex religious ideas into concepts more easily grasped by laymen.

Nowadays, certain fashion divas and individuals with refined taste (real or imagined) will label something as fierce if it is exceptional, in the sense that it stands out from the proverbial crowd.

There you have it. Used by the likes of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Tyra Banks, fierce is a word to be reckoned with, like the beautiful spring sunshine around the corner. Please feel free to send in your word ideas and, until next time, cheers!

[Reach columnist Will Mari at features @thedaily.washington.edu.]