Shiny

How to spell shiny

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce shiny

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does shiny mean?

1. adjectiveHaving a bright, polished, reflective surface.

Shiny in a sentence

• She polished the car until the bonnet looked shiny and new.

• The shiny wrapping paper caught the light on the table.

Where does shiny come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built from the verb 'shine', which descends from the Old English scinan, meaning 'to give out light' or 'to be radiant'. That verb has deep Germanic roots and is related to similar words in Dutch (schijnen) and German (scheinen), all carrying the basic idea of casting light. The adjective 'shiny' is a much later, homegrown formation, simply adding the everyday suffix '-y' to mean 'full of shine' or 'having a bright, reflective surface'; it began appearing in English in the 1500s. Notice that the silent 'e' of 'shine' is dropped before the '-y' is attached, which is the small spelling point worth remembering. The same scinan root also gives us 'sheen', the noun for a soft glossy lustre.

How the word is built

• shine (Old English scinan: to give light)
• -y (adjective suffix: full of, having the quality of)