aglitter

UK/əˈɡlɪtɚ/US/əˈɡlɪtɚ/

adjectiveC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speech — glitter sits at #5,884Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Aglitter means sparkling all over with light. The whole harbour was aglitter.

The a- at the front is an old prefix meaning in a state of, as in ablaze and afire. Aglitter goes after the verb rather than before the noun, which is what that prefix does.

Definitions of aglitter

1adjectiveaglitterSparkling all over with light.C2
“The frost left every field aglitter until about ten.”

aglitter is a quality.

Also accepted in games: spangled

Where it comes from

Proto-Indo-European
*ǵʰley-
Proto-Germanic
*glitrōną — to glitter
Old Norse
glitra
Middle English
gliteren
English
glitter
English, today
aglitter

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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