# glow

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɡləʊ/ · frequency rank #8,151

## Definitions
1. To emit heat and light without a flame.
2. Of a fire: to emit heat and light.
3. To emit light brightly and steadily as if heated to a high temperature; to shine.
4. To be very hot; also, to be on fire; to burn.
5. Of a colour: to be bright; also, of a thing: to have a bright colour.
6. Of a person: to display intense emotion.
7. Of a person's body or a part of it: to feel hot and often to flush (“become suffused with a reddish colour”) as well, due to an emotional response, exertion, etc.
8. To be involved in an (chiefly online) undercover sting operation, especially by American federal agencies.
9. To create a threatening online post that may involve violence, and look suspicious enough to attract a police investigation.
10. To emit (flame).
11. To expose (someone) to the authorities.
12. To make (something) hot; to heat.

## Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English glouen, glowen (“to give off heat and light without flame; of a thing: to be heated until red hot; to be brightly coloured; to shine brightly; (figurative) to be filled with emotion; of the face, etc.: to turn red, flush; etc.”), and then either:
* from Old English glōwan (“to glow”) (a strong verb), from Proto-West Germanic *glōan (“to glow”); or
* because the Middle English and modern English words are weak verbs, possibly from Old Norse *glówa, thought to be a variant of glóa (“to glow”), also a weak verb;
both from Proto-Germanic *glōaną (“to glow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰleh₁- (“to shine, glow; to be shining, glowing”). Possibly a doublet of glass.
The noun is derived from the verb.
cognates
* Dutch gloeien
* Finnish loistaa
* German glühen
* Norwegian glo
* Old Norse glóa (Danish glo, Icelandic glóa, Swedish glo)
* Saterland Frisian gloie, glöie, gluuje
* West Frisian gloeie

## Easily confused with
- **go** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-go)
- **got** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-got)
- **god** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-god)
- **GOP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-gop)
- **goo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-goo)
- **Goa** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-goa)
- **GMO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-gmo)
- **Guo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-guo)
- **GOL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-gol)
- **gob** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-gob)
- **gow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-gow)
- **gro** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-gro)
- **gor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-gor)
- **GoH** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-goh)
- **gog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-gog)
- **GPO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-gpo)
- **good** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-good)
- **grow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-grow)
- **grew** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-grew)
- **glue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/glow-vs-glue)

## Common misspellings (6)
`gglow`, `gllow`, `gloww`, `glwo`, `golw`, `lgow`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/glow