Glow
verbTo give out a steady soft light or heat, or to look warm and radiant.
How to spell glow
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce glow
What does glow mean?
- verbTo give out a steady soft light or heat, or to look warm and radiant.
- nounA steady soft light, warmth, or radiant appearance.
Glow in a sentence
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verb
The embers glow long after the campfire dies down.
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noun
A warm glow from the lamp filled the reading corner.
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verb
Her cheeks glow after a brisk morning walk.
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noun
The new moisturiser gave her skin a healthy glow.
Where does glow come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
Glow comes straight from the Old English verb glowan, which meant to shine or to burn with a steady heat rather than an open flame. It belongs to a large Germanic family of words built on roots meaning to gleam or to be bright, and close relatives survive in Dutch gloeien and German gl hen, both carrying the same idea of red heat. The word is part of a memorable little cluster of native English shine words, including gleam, glimmer, glint and glisten, all sharing that opening 'gl' sound that has long been linked to light. Over the centuries the sense broadened from physical heat and light to the warm flush of skin and the soft feeling of pleasure or pride. Because it has stayed an unbroken native word, its spelling is refreshingly regular: the 'ow' simply spells the long o sound, the same pattern seen in flow and grow.
How the word is built
- glow (from Old English glowan: to shine, burn with heat) used as a complete root with no affixes
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