tinsel

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• Received-Pronunciation, Scotland: /ˈtɪns(ə)l/
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• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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• General-American: /ˈtɪnsəl/
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• rhymes with -ɪnsəl
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• CMU ARPABET: T IH1 N S AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
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The noun is derived from Middle English tinsel (“cloth containing gold or silver thread”) [and other forms], probably from Anglo-Norman tincel, tincelle, tencele, and then: * from Old French estincelle, estencele (“a spark”) (modern French étincelle), from Vulgar Latin *stincilla, a metathesis of Latin scintilla (“a glimmer; a spark”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh1y- (“to shimmer, shine”); and * from Old French estincelé, the past participle of estinceler, estenceler (“to produce sparks”) (modern French étinceler (“to sparkle, twinkle; (archaic) to produce sparks”)), from Vulgar Latin *stincillāre, a metathesis of Latin scintillāre, the present active infinitive of scintillō (“to scintillate, sparkle”), from scintilla (“a glimmer; a spark”) (see above) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). The English word is a doublet of scintilla, scintillate, and stencil. The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun; while the verb is derived from the noun.

The noun is derived from Middle English tinsel (“destruction, loss; damnation, spiritual loss; state of damnation”) [and other forms], probably from Old Norse *týnsla (modern Norwegian tynsla (“damage, destruction”)), from týna (“to destroy; to lose; to perish”) (whence Middle English tinen (“to be deprived of, lose; to fail to maintain; to forfeit; to lose track of; to mislay; to be separated from; to escape; to be defeated or forced to withdraw; to waste; to consume, use up; to be destroyed, perish; to damn; to remove, take”)) + -sla (suffix forming nouns from verbs, either denoting the action of the verb or the medium or product of the action). Týna is derived from tjón (“damage; loss”), from Proto-Germanic *teuną (“damage; destruction, ruin; lack”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *duH- (“to torment, vex”) or *deh2w- (“to burn”). The verb is derived from the noun.

48 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Armenian: փայլազարդ (pʻaylazard) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Armenian: փայլփլուք (pʻaylpʻlukʻ) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Bulgarian: сърма (sǎrma) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Catalan: oripell — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Chinese Mandarin: 彩條 /彩条 (cǎitiáo) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Dutch: engelenhaar — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Dutch: guirlande — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• French: clinquant — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• French: guirlande — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Georgian: ფოლგა (polga) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• German: Flittergold — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• German: Lametta — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• German: Rauschgold — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• German: Rauschsilber — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Hungarian: girland — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Hungarian: aranyfüst — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Hungarian: angyalhaj — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Hungarian: talmi — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Hungarian: füzér — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Hungarian: lametta — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Hungarian: lamé — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Indonesian: gaba-gaba — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Indonesian: perada — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Italian: orpello — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Japanese: ティンセル (tinseru) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Japanese: 金属糸 (kinzoku ito) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Korean: 장식용 금속 조각 (jangsigyong geumsok jogak) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Mongolian: саа (saa) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Mongolian: ᠰᠠ (sa) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Norwegian Bokmål: glitter — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Polish: girlanda — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Polish: łańcuch choinkowy — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Portuguese: ouropel — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Romanian: beteală — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Russian: мишура́ (mišurá) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Russian: блёстки (bljóstki) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Spanish: espumillón — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Spanish: oropel — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Swedish: glitter — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Tagalog: arupel — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Tagalog: palara — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Tamil: ஜிகினா (jikiṉā) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Ukrainian: мішура (mišura) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• Ukrainian: дощик (doščyk) — very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread
• French: oripeau — anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable
• Māori: kohiko — anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable
• Spanish: oropel — anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable
• Ottoman Turkish: قالای (kalay) — anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable