relish
v.to enjoy something very much. You use this when you want to show that you are looking forward to an experience or getting great pleasure from it.
v.to derive great enjoyment or satisfaction from an experience or prospect. Often implies a slow, conscious appreciation of the details of the activity.
“I relish the challenge of learning a new language.”
“She does not relish the prospect of telling her manager about the mistake.”
“A seasoned litigator might relish the opportunity to cross-examine such a high-profile witness, viewing the high stakes as a chance to demonstrate professional mastery.”
The verb is transitive and takes a direct object, often a gerund or a noun phrase.
When followed by another action, this verb requires the -ing form (gerund) rather than the infinitive.
“The platform may have been even greater at the World Cup, but the unfazed teenager has relished competing against older players for much of his life.”
“Throughout, Dudamel relished the slow blossoming of tutti passages, easing into them after energetic surges forward.”
The noun is a variant of release (“(obsolete) odour, scent”), from Middle English reles, relese (“odour, scent; taste; efficacy, power”), probably from Anglo-Norman reles, relais, or Old French reles, relais (“that which is left behind, remainder, residue”), from relaisser, relaschier (“to liberate, release; to relax”) (modern French relâcher), from Latin relaxāre, the present active infinitive of relaxō (“to stretch out or widen again, loosen, slacken; (figurative) to ease, relax”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again; back, backwards’) + laxō (“to release, undo; to relax”) (from laxus (“spacious, wide; loose, slack”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg- (“to slacken; to tire out”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)). Doublet of release. The verb is derived from the noun.
The noun is derived from Late Middle English relese (“projection of a wall”), probably from Middle French relais or Old French relais (“projection of masonry at the base of a wall”), a specific use of reles, relais (“that which is left behind, remainder, residue”): see further at etymology 1. Doublet of release. The verb is derived from the noun.
The noun is probably derived partly: * from release (“(obsolete) odour, scent”), from Middle English reles, relese (“odour, scent; taste; efficacy, power”); and * from relish (“one’s liking or taste for something”). See further at etymology 1. The verb is probably derived from the noun.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.