shimmer
/ˈʃɪm.ɚ/verb, noun
shimmer is spelled S-H-I-M-M-E-R: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, shimmer means “To shine tremulously or intermittently; to gleam faintly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in shimmer?
| Letters | 7: S-H-I-M-M-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 29,649th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 shimmer?
Shimmer appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 29,649th 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 shimmer?
- UK /ˈʃɪm.ə(ɹ)/
- US /ˈʃɪm.ɚ/
Shimmer 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-shimmer.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with shimmer?
6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as shimmer from its last stressed vowel (/ɪməɹ/):
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 shimmer
- shimmers present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- shimmering participle, present
- shimmered participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shimmer mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To shine tremulously or intermittently; to gleam faintly.
- 2
Of a mass of bees: to move their abdomens in a coordinated manner so as to produce a shimmering wave effect, thought to deter predators.
noun
- 1
A faint or veiled and tremulous gleam or shining.
- 2
A measure of the irregularities in the loudness of a particular pitch over time.
- 3
A thin electronic device that is fit inside a card reader, such as on automated teller machines (ATMs), or point-of-sale terminals (POS's), that acts as an intermediate interface between the chip on a chip-and-pin technology card and the chip reader of the machine, to allow one to clone the chip.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Shimmer in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | chatoyer , chatoyement, chatoiement |
| German | schimmern , Schimmer, Schimmern |
| Spanish | titilar, cabrillear, centellear, resplandecer, centellar, escintilar |
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 shimmer come from?
From Middle English schimeren, from Old English sċymrian, sċimrian, sċimerian, from Proto-Germanic *skimarōną. Cognate with Dutch schemeren, German schimmern.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).