sizzle v.

c. 1600, "to burn with a hissing sound" (intransitive), perhaps a frequentative form of Middle English sissen "hiss, buzz" (c. 1300), which is of imitative origin. The figurative sense is attested from 1859. Related: Sizzled; sizzling. The noun is recorded by 1823, "a hissing sound;" figurative use by 1901.