sparkle

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈspɑɹ.kəl/ UK /ˈspɑː.kəl/ See IPA manual

Freq #11864

Meanings

1

verb
To shine with many small points of light; to twinkle.

The stars sparkled in the night sky.
2

noun
A bright, shining quality.

The sparkle of the diamond caught everyone's eye.
3

noun
Liveliness and energy.

There was a sparkle in her conversation that kept us all listening.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to shine with many small... scintillate twinkle

Word family

Forms sparkledsparkles

Derived forms asparkleoutsparklesparkleberrysparkledogsparklelesssparklemuffinsparklepiresparklersparklewolfsparkly

Etymology

From Middle English sparklen, sperclen, equivalent to spark + -le (frequentative verb). Cognate with West Frisian sparkelje (“to sparkle”), Dutch sparkelen (“to sparkle”).

sparklen Middle English

View etymology graph ->

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# sparkle

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** verb, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈspɑɹ.kəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈspɑː.kəl/
**Frequency rank:** 11864

## Meanings
1. To shine with many small points of light; to twinkle.
2. A bright, shining quality.
3. Liveliness and energy.

## Examples
- The stars sparkled in the night sky.
- The sparkle of the diamond caught everyone's eye.
- There was a sparkle in her conversation that kept us all listening.

## Derived Forms
- asparkle
- outsparkle
- sparkleberry
- sparkledog
- sparkleless
- sparklemuffin
- sparklepire
- sparkler
- sparklewolf
- sparkly

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: sparklen

## Etymology
From Middle English sparklen, sperclen, equivalent to spark + -le (frequentative verb). Cognate with West Frisian sparkelje (“to sparkle”), Dutch sparkelen (“to sparkle”).

## AI Etymology
Sparkle is from Middle English sparklen, sperclen, equivalent to spark + -le (frequentative verb). Cognate with West Frisian sparkelje (“to sparkle”), Dutch sparkelen (“to sparkle”). Important forms in the word's history include Middle English sparklen. In current use it includes senses such as To shine with many small points of light; to twinkle and A bright, shining quality.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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sparkle

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