glisten
/ˈɡlɪsən/
"glisten" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“glisten” is uncommon English (frequency #70,702 among 2,313 “G” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,702
- frequency rank, English
- 2,313
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To reflect light with a glittering luster; to sparkle, coruscate, glint or flash.
Corpus desk
Index EN-glisten · glisten · English
glisten · rank #70,702 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #70,702
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,313
- PHOTO-FINISH glimmering
Nearest frequency peer: glimmering (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “glisten”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- gingivitis
gingivitis
29,303 corpus weight
- Glengarry
Glengarry
29,301 corpus weight
- glimmering
glimmering
29,300 corpus weight
- glisten
glisten
29,299 corpus weight
- glutinous
glutinous
29,296 corpus weight
- goading
goading
29,295 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “glisten” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | glisten |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈɡlɪsən/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #70,702 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “glisten” in English
Rare enough to double-check
glisten is uncommon English at frequency #70,702 among 2,313 “G” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈɡlɪsən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To reflect light with a glittering luster; to sparkle, coruscate, glint or flash.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for glisten in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English glisnen, glistnen, from Old English glisnian, itself from Proto-West Germanic *glisnōn, while ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic *glisnōną. The correct English form is glisten, spelled G-L-I-S-T-E-N.
Definition
- 1To reflect light with a glittering luster; to sparkle, coruscate, glint or flash.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how glisten appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The sun was fierce, the land seemed to glisten and drip with steam.
Etymology
From Middle English glisnen, glistnen, from Old English glisnian, itself from Proto-West Germanic *glisnōn, while ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic *glisnōną.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "glisten", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).