Glamour Was Originally a Word for Magic
Glamour is attractive excitement and charm. The word began in Scots as a corruption of grammar, when learning and magic looked like the same thing.
Glamour means the charm and excitement that surrounds people, places or professions. Its history is odd and well attested: it is a Scots alteration of *grammar*. In the Middle Ages, learning of any kind smelled of the occult, so *gramarye* meant magic, and to cast a glamour was to cast a spell.
- Exciting and attractive charm. *The glamour of the stage.*
- Beauty presented for effect. *Glamour photography.*
- Glamorous — full of glamour. *A glamorous career.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun (UK) | glamour | Old Hollywood glamour. |
| Noun (US) | glamor | A touch of glamor. |
| Adjective | glamorous | A glamorous party. |
| Adverb | glamorously | Glamorously dressed. |
| Verb | glamorise | Glamorising crime. |
How it is used in a sentence
- There is no glamour in the job itself.Uncountable.
- The film glamorises a very grim period.Glamorise is usually a criticism.
- She looked glamorous in the photographs.Note the spelling: glamour but glamorous.
Charm words
- Glamour — exciting, slightly unreal attractiveness
- Charm — the power to please, more personal
- Allure — attraction that draws you in
- Chic — stylish in an understated way
- Charisma — personal magnetism, from the Greek for a gift
From Scots *glamour*, an alteration of *grammar*, which through Old French *gramaire* had come to mean learning and then magic. Walter Scott's novels carried the word into standard English in the early nineteenth century.
Why is it glamorous and not glamourous?
Because the u is dropped before the ending, as in humour and humorous. American English drops it in the noun too: glamor.
Is glamour really from grammar?
Yes. It is one of the best-documented odd etymologies in English, recorded in Scots before Scott popularised it.