Growing or expanding rapidly — beginning to flourish, like a bud about to open.
From Old French bourgeon (a bud), from Latin burra (wool, shaggy garment). The original image is a plant pushing out woolly buds in spring. The word captures the exact moment between dormancy and bloom — not yet flowering, but unstoppably alive.
Burgeoning comes from the word for a bud — not a flower, not a fruit, but the stage just before. It is the most optimistic word in English because it describes potential in the act of becoming real. Not yet, but soon. Not yet, but inevitably.
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