Shining

How to spell shining

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce shining

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does shining mean?

1. adjectiveGiving out or reflecting bright light; glowing or gleaming.
2. adjectiveNotably excellent or distinguished; standing out for quality.

Shining in a sentence

• The shining surface of the new car caught everyone's attention.

• Her thesis was held up as a shining example of careful research.

• A shining moon lit the path back to the cabin.

• The volunteer programme was the one shining success of the year.

Where does shining come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English verb scinan, meaning 'to give out light' or 'to glow', which traces back to a Proto-Germanic root shared by the Dutch schijnen and German scheinen, both still meaning 'to shine'. The same ancient root also produced 'sheer' in the sense of bright or pure, and 'shimmer', which softens the light into a flicker. The present participle was formed simply by adding the productive ending -ing, the same ending English attaches to almost any verb to describe ongoing action. By the medieval period 'shining' had also taken on a figurative sense of brilliance or distinction, as in a shining example. The spelling keeps a single n, which trips up writers who expect the doubling seen in words like 'running'; because the verb 'shine' ends in a silent e and a long vowel, the e is dropped and the n stays single rather than doubled.

How the word is built

• shine (Old English scinan: to give light)
• -ing (present participle / adjectival suffix)