Where does “shimmer” come from?

Shimmer comes from Middle English schimeren, from Old English sċymrian, from Proto-Germanic skimarōną, meaning to shine faintly or gleam.

shimmer (English): To shine with a veiled, tremulous, or...

Definitions

  1. To shine with a veiled, tremulous, or...

Ancestry of “shimmer”, step by step

shimmer traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English shim

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishshimA wedge; A thin piece of material, sometimes...
2EnglishsheThe female person or animal previously mentioned...
3Middle EnglishscheThird-person singular feminine pronoun: she; It;...
4Old Englishhēoshe
5Germanic*hiju
6Proto-Germanichijōshe; nominative singular feminine of *hiz
7Proto-Indo-Europeanḱe-demonstrative particle; here; this, here

via Middle English schimeren

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishschimerento shine
2Old Englishsċymrian
3Proto-Germanicskimarōną

Words derived from “shimmer

Every word from Proto-Indo-European ḱe-
shimmer — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer