tinsel

English

WOTD – 25 December 2021

Pronunciation

Red and yellow tinsel (sense 2.1) on a Christmas tree.

A c. 1830 tinsel print of the British actor John Thomas Haines as Brian de Bois-Guilbert in a stage performance of Sir Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe. A tinsel print has stamped pieces of tinfoil tinsel (sense 2.1) glued on to it for decoration.

• (Received Pronunciation, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪns(ə)l/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɪnsəl/
• Rhymes: -ɪnsəl
• Hyphenation: tin‧sel

Etymology 1

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.

Noun

tinsel (usually uncountable, plural tinsels)

1. (obsolete) A shining fabric used for ornamental purposes.
   1. A silk or wool fabric with gold or silver thread woven into it; brocade.

      Synonym: baldacchin

      • 1600 (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Cynthias Reuels, or The Fountayne of Selfe-Loue. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act V, scene ix, page 260:

        Firſt, the hethermoſt, in the changeable blew, and greene robe, is the commendably-faſhioned gallant, Evcosmos; […] The fourth, in watchet tinſell, is the kind, and truly benefique, Evcolos.

   2. A very thin, gauzelike cloth with gold or silver (or, later, copper) thread woven into it, or overlaid with thin metal plates.
      • 1646 March 2 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “II. To Mr. En. P. at Paris.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], 3rd edition, volume I, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, →OCLC, section VI, page 284:

        I know in that more ſubtil Air of yours Tinſel ſometimes paſſes for Tiſſue, Venice Beads for Pearl, and Demicaſters for Bevers; But I know you have ſo diſcerning a Judgment, that you will not ſuffer your ſelf to be ſo cheated, […]

2. (by extension)
   1. A thin, shiny foil for ornamental purposes which is of a material made of metal or resembling metal; especially, narrow glittering strips of such a material, often strung on to thread, and traditionally at Christmastime draped on Christmas trees, hung from balustrades or ceilings, or wrapped around objects as a decoration.
      • 1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), [London: s.n., 1870], →OCLC, page 44:

        O! it is divine and moſt admirable, and ſo farre beyond all that ever he publiſhed heretofore, as day-light beyond candle-light, or tinſell or leafe-gold above arſedine; […]

      • 1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 153:

        A tawdry scarf of yellow silk, trimmed with tinsel and spangles, which had seen as hard service, and boasted as honourable a transmission, was next flung over one shoulder, and fell across her person in the manner of a shoulder-belt or baldrick.

      • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword: The Turk Street Mile”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 11:

        He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him not so much of the aerial photographs of today but rather of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood. They dated from the previous century and were coarsely printed on tinted paper, with tinsel outlining the design.

   2. (figuratively) Anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable.
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 15, page 395:

        Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold, / And all her ſteed with tinſell trappings ſhone, / Which fledd ſo faſt, that nothing mote him hold, / And ſcarſe them leaſure gaue, her paſſing to behold.

      • 1675, John Dryden, “Epilogue”, in Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC:

        Yet ſcatter'd here and there I ſome behold, / Who can diſcern the Tinſel from the Gold: […]

      • 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 90:

        O happy peaſant! O unhappy bard! / His the mere tinſel, her's the rich reward; / He prais'd perhaps for ages yet to come, / She never heard of half a mile from home; / He loſt in errors his vain heart prefers, / She ſafe in the ſimplicity of hers.

      • 1862 July – 1863 August, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Dawning Hopes”, in Romola. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1863, →OCLC, book I, page 103:

        [T]hey have been the delusive prologue to an age worse than that of iron—the age of tinsel and gossamer, in which no thought has substance enough to be moulded into consistent and lasting form.

Derived terms

• tinselly
• tinselry
• tinsel print
• Tinseltown

Translations

very thin decorative strips of a glittering, metallic material, often strung on to thread

• Armenian: փայլազարդ (pʻaylazard), փայլփլուք (pʻaylpʻlukʻ)
• Bulgarian: сърма f (sǎrma)
• Catalan: oripell (ca) m
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 彩條 / 彩条 (cǎitiáo)

• Dutch: engelenhaar (nl), guirlande (nl)
• French: clinquant (fr) m, guirlande (fr) f
• Georgian: ფოლგა (ka) (polga)
• German: Flittergold (de) n, Lametta (de) n, Rauschgold (de) n, Rauschsilber n
• Hungarian: girland (hu), aranyfüst (hu), angyalhaj (hu), talmi (hu), füzér (hu), lametta, lamé (hu)
• Italian: orpello (it) m
• Japanese: ティンセル (tinseru), 金属糸 (きんぞくいと, kinzoku ito)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: саа (mn) (saa)

  Mongolian: ᠰᠠ (sa)

• Polish: girlanda (pl) f, łańcuch choinkowy m
• Portuguese: ouropel (pt) m
• Romanian: beteală (ro) f
• Russian: мишура́ (ru) f (mišurá), блёстки (ru) f pl (bljóstki)
• Spanish: espumillón m, oropel (es) m
• Swedish: glitter (sv) n
• Tagalog: arupel, palara
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: мішура f (mišura), дощик m (doščyk)

anything shining and gaudy; especially something superficially shiny and showy, or having a false lustre, and more pretty than valuable

• French: oripeau (fr) m
• Ottoman Turkish: قالای (kalay)
• Spanish: oropel (es)

See also

• trimmings
• trim up

Adjective

tinsel (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Of fabric: ornamented by being woven with gold or silver thread, or overlaid with thin metal plates; brocaded.
   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 30:

     Liſten and appeare to us / In the name of great Oceanus, / […] / By Leucothea’s lovely hands, / And her ſon that rules the ſtrands, / By Thetis tinſel-ſlipper’d feet; […]

2. (by extension)
   1. (obsolete) Glittering.
      • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 36–37:

        Baſes and tinſel Trappings, gorgious Knights / At Jouſt and Touneament; then marſhal'd Feaſt / Serv'd up in Hall with Sewers, and Seneſhals; […]

   2. (figuratively) Apparently beautiful and costly but having little value; superficially attractive; gaudy, showy, tawdry.
      • 1890 December 24, “Judy’s Diary”, in Judy: The London Serio-comic Journal, volume 46, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 306, column 2:

        Went to that magnificent Temple of Thalia, the New Olympic, and saw the bewitchingest Pauline, in the person of Winifred Emery, that ever I saw in the shammiest, stagiest, tawdriest, tinsellest, transparentest, most diaphanously theatrical comedy I ever saw in the absolute period of my Thespian existence.

        A nonce use of the superlative form of tinsel.

      • 2009, Larry Samuel, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: 1980–1994”, in Rich: The Rise and Fall of American Wealth Culture, New York, N.Y.: AMACOM, →ISBN, page 192:

        Sensing plenty of room for such displays of conspicuous consumption, no less than three other knockoffs—The Good Life ("the most luxurious half-hour on television"), The Robb Report (a spinoff of the ultra high-end auto magazine), and Eye on Hollywood (the tinselest side of Tinseltown)—were soon on the air, each also a tour de force of hedonism and exhibition.

        A nonce use of the superlative form of tinsel.

Translations

apparently beautiful and costly but having little value — see also gaudy,‎ showy

Verb

tinsel (third-person singular simple present tinsels, present participle (UK) tinselling or (US) tinseling, simple past and past participle (UK) tinselled or (US) tinseled) (transitive)

1. To adorn (something) with tinsel.
   1. (also figuratively) To ornament (fabric, etc.) by weaving into it thread of gold, silver, or some other shiny material.
      • 1594, Tho[mas] Nashe, “The Vnfortunate Traueller”, in The Vnfortunate Traueller. Or, The Life of Iacke Wilton, London: […] T. Scarlet for C[uthbert] Burby, […], →OCLC:

        Hir daintie lims tinſill hir ſilke ſoft ſheets, / Hir roſe-crownd cheekes eclipſe my dazeled ſight, […]

      • 1648, Robert Herrick, “The Apparition of His Mistresse Calling Him to Elizium”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 240:

        And all the ſhrubs, vvith ſparkling ſpangles, ſhevv / Like Morning-Sun-ſhine tinsilling the devv.

   2. (by extension) To deck out (a place or something) with showy but cheap ornaments; to make gaudy.
      • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 5, lines 69–72:

        She, tinſel'd o'er in robes of varying hues, / With ſelf-applauſe her wild creation views, / Sees momentary monſters riſe and fall, / And with her own fools-colours gilds them all.

      • 1848 June 28, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Before the Curtain”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], →OCLC, page vii:

        […] and yokels looking up at the tinselled dancers and poor old rouged tumblers, while the light-fingered folk are operating upon their pockets behind.

2. (figuratively) To give (something) a false or superficial attractiveness.
   • 1926, T. E. Lawrence, chapter 105, in Seven Pillars of Wisdom:

     I could tell them vague tales of their poetry, and cruel wars: but it seemed distant and tinselled an age.

Derived terms

• tinseled, tinselled (adjective)
• tinseling, tinselling (noun)

Translations

to adorn with tinsel

to ornament (fabric, etc.) by weaving into it thread of gold, silver, or some other shiny material

to deck out (a place or something) with showy but cheap ornaments

to give (something) a false or superficial attractiveness

Etymology 2

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 *dū- (“to torment, vex”) or *dāw- (“to burn”).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Noun

tinsel (uncountable) (Scotland)

1. (obsolete) Damage, detriment; loss.
2. (law, archaic) Deprivation; forfeiture.

Verb

tinsel (third-person singular simple present tinsels, present participle tinselling, simple past and past participle tinselled)

1. (transitive, Scotland, obsolete, rare) To cause (someone) damage or loss; also, to impose a fine on (someone); to mulct.

   Synonym: (archaic) endamage

Further reading

• tinsel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “tinsel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• ELINTs, SILENT, Teslin, enlist, inlets, leints, lets in, listen, silent

Turkish

Etymology

Equivalent to tin (“spirit, soul”) +‎ -sel

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tinˈsæl/, [t̪in̪ˈs̪æl̠ʲ]
• Rhymes: -æl
• Hyphenation: tin‧sel

Adjective

tinsel

1. (spiritualism) spiritual

   Synonyms: ruhani, manevi

Further reading

• “tinsel”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “tinsel”, in Nişanyan Sözlük