Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Twinkle |
TwinkleNoun1. A rapid change in brightness. Verb1. Gleam or glow intermittently; "The lights were flashing". 2. Emit or reflect light in a flickering manner; of stars; "Does a constellation twinkle more brightly than a single star?". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "twinkle" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1595. (references) |
Note: Twinkle \Twin"kle\, intransitive verb. [imperative past participle Twinkled; present participle verb or noun Twinkling.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Chemistry | To sparkle, to emit light in rapid, intermittent gleams. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
TWINKLE | English | The Weizman INstitute Key Locating Engine | Computer - (cryptography) |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: TwinkleSynonyms: scintillation (n), sparkling (n), blink (v), flash (v), scintillate (v), wink (v), winkle (v). (additional references) |
| Synonym by domain: twinkled (chemistry, mining). |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Instantaneity | Verb: be instantaneous; Adjective: twinkle, flash. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Twinkle |
| English words defined with "twinkle": scintillate ♦ Twink, Twinkled, Twire ♦ winkle. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Alright twinkle toes, what's your exit strategy (True Lies; writing credit: Claude Zidi; Simon Michaël) | |
Lyrics | Like treasures they twinkle in the sun (Androgyny; performing artist: Garbage) See them twinkle in your eyes ("In the Midnight Hour"; performing artist: Wilson Pickett) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Twinkle Little Telestar Twinkle (1965) The Twinkle in God's Eye (1955) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Twinkle" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 69.62% of the time. "Twinkle" is used about 158 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 69.62% | 110 | 30,952 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 18.99% | 30 | 63,341 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 6.33% | 10 | 111,207 |
| Noun (proper) | 4.43% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Noun (common) | 0.63% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 158 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "twinkle": in a twinkle ♦ in the twinkle ♦ in the twinkle of an eye. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "twinkle": twinkle-toed. | |
Ending with "twinkle": a-twinkle. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "twinkle"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | xixëllon (flare, glitter, scintillate, sparkle), xixëllim (glitter, scintillation, sparkle, sparkling), vezullim (glance, glimmering), pulitje, ndrit (brighten, burn, gleam, glitter, shine, sparkle, water), kapsallit (wink). (various references) | |
Arabic | وميض (flash, glimmer, glint, photoflash, shimmer, twinkling), حركة سريعة (dart, flick, flight, flirt), تلألؤ (coruscation, glisten), تلألأ (glint, glisten, luster, lustre, scintillate, shimmer, spangle, sparkle), تحرك برشاقة, تطرف العين (blink), طرفة عين (eye, twink, twinkling), أومض (blink, glance, glimmer, glint, glisten, glitter, scintillate, shimmer), بريق (blaze, brightness, burnish, flame, glance, gleam, glimmering, glitter, gloss, loudness, luster, opalescence, refulgence, sheen, shine, spark). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | трепкане (flicker, vibration), весели пламъчета в очите, мигане (blinking, eyewink, flashing, wink), мигам бързо, миг (flash, instant, jiff, jiffy, minute, moment, second, shake, tick, trice, twinkling), бързо движение (dash, flirt, scud, touch and go, twinkling, whisk), блестя (blaze, coruscate, dazzle, glance, gleam, glitter, glow, irradiate, scintillate, shine, shine out, sparkle), блещукане (flicker, gleam, glimmer, glimmering, scintillation, shimmer, twinkling), искря (flash, glitter, scintillate, spark, sparkle), изпращам присветващи сигнали. (various references) | |
Chinese | 閃亮 (flare, glisten), 闪光 (Flash, Flashes, Twinkled), 眨眼 (very short time, wink). (various references) | |
Czech | třpytit se (blaze, coruscate, gleam, glint, glisten, glister, glitter, scintillate, sparkle), třpyt (coruscation, dazzle, gleam, glint, glitter, radiance, shimmer, shine, sparkle), záblesk (blink, flare, flash, gleam, glimmer, glimpse, glint), mihnutí, mžik, kolébat se (rock, shamble, wabble, waddle, wag, wobble), jiskření (scintillation, sparkle), blikat (blink, flash, flicker, gutter, wink). (various references) | |
Farsi | چشمک زدن(بویژه درموردستارگان), چشمک (Blink, Wink), تلاء لو, بارقه (Spark), برق زدن یاتکان تکان خوردن . (various references) | |
Finnish | tuikkia (gleam, glimmer), tuike (twinkling), vilkkua (blink, flash, flicker), vilahtaa (flash). (various references) | |
French | scintiller. (various references) | |
German | glitzern (glint, glisten, glitter, sparkle, to glint, to glisten, to glitter, to twinkle), blitzen (coruscation, flash, lightning, lightninged, sparkle, streak, twinkling, use flash). (various references) | |
Greek | ριπή οφθαλμού (twinkling of an eye, wink), σπινθηροβολώ (glitter, scintillate, spark, sparkle), σπινθηρίζω (sparkle), σπιθίζω (glint), βλεφαρίζω (blink), ματιά (glance, glimpse, look), λάμψη (brightness, coruscation, eclat, effulgence, flare, flash, glare, glint, glisten, glitter, glow, limelight, luster, lustre, radiance, radiancy, refulgence, resplendence, resplendency, shine, shininess, shining, splendor, splendour), ακτινοβολώ (beam, eradiate, glisten, glitter, irradiate, radiate, radiative, shine), αστράφτω (flash, glint, glisten, lighten), ανοιγοκλείω τα βλέφαρα. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מצמוץ עין (blink, blinking, wink, winking), ל"בליח (flicker, lambent, shimmer), ל צוץ (glitter, sparkle), ל צ ץ (flash, flicker, gleam, glimmer, glint, glisten, glitter, scintillate, shimmer, sparkle), קריצת עין (eyewink, wink, winking), "רף עין (eyewink, instant, jiffy, moment, trice), צ וץ (flash, flickering, gleam, glimmer, glimmering, glint, glistening, glitter, shimmer, sparkle, twinkling). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szemvillanás (cock of the eye, eye-beam, eyewink), pislogás (blink, flutter, winking), csillogás (coruscation, flare, gleam, glimmer, glint, glisten, glitter, lambency, resplendence, sparkle, twinkling). (various references) | |
Indonesian | kerlip. (various references) | |
Italian | tremolare (flicker, shake, tremble), scintillio (glittering, sparkling, twinkling), scintillare (flash, glitter, scintilate, scintillate, shine, spark, sparkle), luccichio (glitter), luccicare (gleam, glint, glisten, glitter, shimmer, sparkle), brillare (beam, coruscate, gleam, glint, glisten, glitter, scintilate, shimmer, shine, sparkle). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 煌めき (glimmer, glitter, sparkle), きまり悪い (at once, being ashamed, Eek!, feeling awkward, glisten, glitter, look around restlessly, quickly, right away, sparkle, squeak, squeaking, tightly, Yipe!). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | きらきら (glisten, glitter, sparkle), きらめき (glimmer, glitter, sparkle). (various references) | |
Korean | 반짝임 (Glisten, Glitter). (various references) | |
Manx | meekey (blink, blinking, flick of eye, flicker, peep, wink), meek (blink, wink). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | inkletway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | tremeluzir (flicker, glimmer, glint, glitter, whiffle, wink), vislumbre (glance, gleam, glimmer, glimpse, ray), piscar (blink), pestanejar (blink, flicker, nictate, nictitate), mover-se rapidamente (jig), fulgor súbito e rápido, cintilar (blink, flash, flicker, gleam, glimmer, glint, glisten, glister, glitter, ray, scintillate, shine, sparkle, wink), cintilação (effulgence, flashing, flicker, glint, glisten, glitter, lambency, scintillation, sparkle, sparkling, twinkling), centelha (flake, flicker, scintilla, spark, sparkle), bruxuleio (glimmer, twinkling), bruxulear (glimmer, waver), brilhar (burn, flame, flash, flourish, glance, gleam, glint, glisten, glister, glitter, irradiate, lamp, lighten, scintillate, shine, sparkle). (various references) | |
Romanian | sclipire (brilliance, brilliancy, coruscation, flare, flash, gleam, glisten, glister, glitter, sheen, shimmer, shine, sparkle), sclipi (gleam, glimmer, glimpse, glisten, glitter, lighten, shimmer, shine, sparkle), scânteia (coruscate, flash, glance, gleam, glint, glisten, glitter, kindle, scintillate, spark, sparkle), moment (flash, hour, instant, jiffy, juncture, minute, Mo, moment, one moment, page, point, second, shake, tick, time, trice, turn, wait a bit), luminã (culture, glare, glim, glow, illumination, light, lighting, lightness, lucidity, luminous energy, opening, perspective, side light, span), licãrire (blink, glance, glimmer, glimpse, glint, glitter, Ray, shimmer, spark, sparkle, sparkling), licãri (flash, glance, gleam, glimmer, glimpse, glitter, scintillate, shimmer, shine, sparkle, wink), clipit (wink), clipire din ochi (blink, nictation, nictitation, wink), clipi din ochi (blink, nictitate, wink one's eye). (various references) | |
Russian | сверкание (coruscation, flashing, glance, lambency, scintillation), мерцание (fibrillation, flicker, flickering, glimmer, glimmering, scintillance, scintillation, twinkling), мерцает мерцание, мелькание (glimpse). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | svetlucati (gleam, glimmer, glimpse, glint, glisten, glister, scintillate, shimmer), svetlucanje (glimmer, glimpse, scintillation, shimmer, twinkling). (various references) | |
Spanish | centellear (glimmer, glint, scintillate, sparkle). (various references) | |
Swedish | tindra (glisten, scintillate, sparkle), blinka (blink, flash, nictate, wink). (various references) | |
Turkish | titrek parlamak, titrek ışık (flare, flicker, jack-a-dandy, shimmer, twinkling), parlamak (beam, blaze, blink, coruscate, flare up, flash, fulminate, glare, gleam, glint, glisten, glitter, glow, light up, lighten, loose off at, shine, shine out, smile, sparkle), parıldamak (glance, gleam, glimmer, glitter, scintillate, shimmer, shine, sparkle), pırıltı (blaze, dazzle, gleam, glisten, sheen, shimmer, spark of, sparkle, twinkling), göz kırpmak (blink, cock one's eye at, nictitate, wink, wink at), göz kırpma (blinking, cock of the eye, nictitation, twinkling, winking), ışıltı (blaze, blink, flash, glint, light, shining), ışıldamak (blink, coruscate, gleam, glint, scintillate, shine, sparkle). (various references) | |
Turkmen | яylpyldamak. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | мерехтіти, мерехтіння (blink, flicker, glimpse, twinkling, winking), мигтіти (flicker, glimmer), мигання (flickering, nictation, nictitation). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự lấp lánh (play, sparkle). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | mica, micantes, micantis, micare, micha, michas. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "twinkle": twinkled, twinkler, twinklers, twinkles. (additional references) | |
| |
"Twinkle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Tinklar, Trinkle, twince, twinke, twinker, twinkie. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "twinkle" (pronounced twi"ngkul) |
| 6 | -w i" ng k u l | Winkle. |
| 5 | -i" ng k u l | sprinkle, tinkle, wrinkle. |
| 4 | -ng k u l | ankle, granduncle, rankle, runkle, uncle. |
| 3 | -k u l | acoustical, aeronautical, agrochemical, allegorical, alphabetical, analytical, anarchical, anatomical, anthropological, antithetical, apolitical, archaeological, archeological, article, astrological, astronautical, astronomical, asymmetrical, atypical, autobiographical, barnacle, biblical, bicycle, bifocal, biochemical, biographical, biological, biomedical, biotechnological, botanical, brickle, buckle, cackle, categorical, cervical, chemical, Chronicle, chronological, chuckle, circle, classical, clavicle, clerical, clinical, comical, commonsensical, conical, coracle, cortical, crackle, critical, cubicle, cuticle, cycle, cyclical, cylindrical, cynical, debacle, dermatological, diabolical, diacritical, dialectical, domical, ducal, ecclesiastical, ecological, economical, ecumenical, egotistical, electrical, electrochemical, electromechanical, elliptical, empirical, encircle, encyclical, epidemiological, epochal, equivocal, eschatological, ethical, ethnical, etymological, evangelical, fanatical, farcical, fecal, fickle, fiscal, focal, follicle, freckle, galenical, geographical, geological, geometrical, geophysical, geopolitical, gonococcal, grackle, grammatical, graphical, gynecological, hackle, heckle, helical, heretical, heterocercal, hierarchical, historical, honeysuckle, Huckle, hypercritical, hypocritical, hypothetical, hysterical, icicle, identical, ideological, illogical, immunological, impractical, Sokol, sparkle, speckle, spectacle, spherical, statistical, stereotypical, stickle, strategical, suckle, surgical, symmetrical, tabernacle, tackle, tactical, technical, technological, teleological, tentacle, testicle, theatrical, theological, inimical, ironical, jackal, knuckle, lackadaisical, lexical, liturgical, local, logical, logistical, lyrical, magical, maniacal, mathematical, matriarchal, mechanical, medical, meikle, metallurgical, metaphorical, metaphysical, meteorological, methodical, methodological, metrical, Mickle, miracle, monocle, morphological, motorcycle, muckle, musical, mystical, mythical, mythological, nautical, neoclassical, neurological, nickel, Nickle, Nicol, nonelectrical, nonpolitical, nonsensical, nonsurgical, nontechnical, numerical, obstacle, ontological, optical, Oracle, oratorical, ornithological, paradoxical, particle, pathological, patriarchal, pedagogical, periodical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, pharmacological, philosophical, phonological, photochemical, physical, physiological, pickle, pinnacle, polemical, political, pontifical, popsicle, practical, preclinical, problematical, prototypical, psychical, psychological, pumpernickel, puritanical, quizzical, rabbinical, radical, radiological, ramshackle, rascal, receptacle, reciprocal, recycle, rhetorical, ruckle, sabbatical, satirical, semiclassical, semicylindrical, semitropical, serological, shackle, shekel, sickle, skeptical, sociological, theoretical, tickle, topical, toxicological, trickle, tricycle, tropical, typical, typographical, tyrannical, umbilical, uncritical, uneconomical, unequivocal, unethical, unicycle, unshackle, untypical, vehicle, vertical, viatical, virological, vocal, whimsical, zoological. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-i-k-l-n-t-w" | |
-1 letter: tinkle, welkin, winkle, wintle. | |
-2 letters: elint, inkle, inlet, knelt, liken, twine. | |
-3 letters: kent, kiln, kilt, kine, kite, knew, knit, lent, lien, like, line, link, lint, lite, lwei, newt, nite, tike, tile, tine, twin, welt, went, wile, wilt, wine, wink, wite. | |
-4 letters: elk, ilk, ink, ken, kin, kit, lei, lek, let, lie, lin, lit, net. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-i-k-l-n-t-w" | |
+1 letter: twinkled, twinkler, twinkles. | |
+2 letters: twinklers. | |
+3 letters: winterkill, wrinkliest. | |
+4 letters: antiwrinkle, nightwalker, trickledown, winterkills. | |
+5 letters: metalworking, nightwalkers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Abbreviations 12. Acronyms | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
