Shimmer
/ˈʃɪm.ər/noun
To shine with a faint, wavering light; a soft flickering gleam.
Did you know?Shimmer is likely an expressive, sound-symbolic word, and English has used that same flickering pattern of sound to create other words for unstable motion and light.
Etymological Timeline
Old English / Middle English
English
scimerian / shimeren
“to gleam, glimmer, or shine faintly”
Middle English
English
shimmer
“to shine with a wavering or tremulous light”
Modern English
English
shimmer
“to give off a soft, wavering light”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*skei-
“to cut, split, or separate (a distant proposed root often linked to related light/shining words, though the exact origin of shimmer remains uncertain)”