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PlainSpell

glitter

/ˈɡlɪtəɹ/noun, verb

glitter is spelled G-L-I-T-T-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, glitter means “A bright, sparkling light; shininess or brilliance” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of glitter is glitters.

How many letters and syllables are in glitter?

Letters7: G-L-I-T-T-E-R
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is glitter?

Glitter appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce glitter?

  • UK /ˈɡlɪtə/
  • US /ˈɡlɪtəɹ/
  • US [ˈɡlɪɾɚ]

Glitter has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-glitter.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with glitter?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as glitter from its last stressed vowel (/ɪtəɹ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of glitter

  • glitters plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • glittering participle, present
  • glittered participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does glitter mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A bright, sparkling light; shininess or brilliance.

  2. 2

    A shiny, decorative adornment, sometimes sprinkled on glue to make simple artwork.

  3. 3

    Glitz.

verb

  1. 1

    To sparkle with light; to shine with a brilliant and broken light or showy luster; to gleam.

    a glittering sword

  2. 2

    To be showy, specious, or striking, and hence attractive.

    the glittering scenes of a court

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Glitter in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchétincellement (bright, sparkling light; brilliant and showy…), paillette (shiny, decoractive adornment), briller (to sparkle with light)
Portugueseresplendor (bright, sparkling light; brilliant and showy…), glitter, purpurina (shiny, decoractive adornment), resplandecer (to sparkle with light)
Spanishbrillo (bright, sparkling light; brilliant and showy…), purpurina, escarcha, brillantina (shiny, decoractive adornment), brillar, resplandecer (to sparkle with light)
GermanGlitter (shiny, decoractive adornment), glitzern (to sparkle with light)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does glitter come from?

From Middle English gliteren, from Old Norse glitra, from Proto-Germanic *glitrōną (“to glitter”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley-.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after glitter