twilight

English

Etymology

From Middle English twilight, twyelyghte, equivalent to twi- (“double, half-”) +‎ light, literally ‘second light, half-light’. Cognate to Scots twa licht, twylicht, twielicht (“twilight”), Low German twilecht, twelecht (“twilight”), Dutch tweelicht (“twilight, dusk”), German Zwielicht (“twilight, dusk”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtwaɪlaɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

twilight (countable and uncountable, plural twilights)

1. The soft light in the sky seen before the rising and (especially) after the setting of the sun, occasioned by the illumination of the earth’s atmosphere by the direct rays of the sun and their reflection on the earth.

   I could just make out her face in the twilight.

2. The time when this light is visible; the period between daylight and darkness.

   It was twilight by the time I got back home.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619:

     At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

3. (astronomy) The time when the sun is less than 18° below the horizon.
4. Any faint light through which something is seen; an in-between or fading condition.

   The twilight of one's life

   • (Can we date this quote by John Locke and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

     The twilight of probability.

Synonyms

• (period between daylight and darkness): blue hour, gloaming; see also Thesaurus:twilight

Hyponyms

• (period between daylight and darkness): cockcrow, first light / evenfall, eventide; see also Thesaurus:dawn and Thesaurus:dusk

Hypernyms

• light

Hyponyms

• astronomical twilight
• civil twilight
• nautical twilight

Coordinate terms

• dawn (end of ~ in the morning)
• dusk (end of ~ in the evening)
• evening
• golden hour
• nightfall
• sundown

Derived terms

• twilightish
• twilighty
• twilit

Related terms

• twilight years
• twilight zone

Translations

light before rising and after the setting of the Sun

• Arabic: شَفَق‎ m (šafaq)
• Aramaic: ܢܘܨܦܐ‎, ܒܗܪܐ‎
• Armenian: մթնշաղ (hy) (mtʿnšał)
• Azerbaijani: toran
• Bashkir: эңер (eñer)
• Belarusian: змярка́нне n (zmjarkánnje), змрок m (zmrok), прыце́мак m (prycjémak)
• Bulgarian: здрач (bg) m (zdrač), су́мрак (bg) m (súmrak)
• Catalan: crepuscle (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黃昏 (zh), 黄昏 (zh) (huánghūn), 暮色 (zh) (mùsè), 薄暮 (zh) (bómù), 黎明 (zh) (límíng)

• Czech: soumrak (cs) m
• Danish: tusmørke n, skumring (da) c (after setting of sun only), gry n, daggry (da) c (before rising of sun only)
• Dutch: schemering (nl) f, deemstering (nl) f, tweelicht (nl) n
• Egyptian: (jḫḫw)
• Esperanto: krepusko
• Estonian: agu (et); koit (morning), eha (evening)
• Faroese: skýming f, dimming f, hálvalýsi n
• Finnish: hämärä (fi), aamuhämärä (fi), iltahämärä (fi)
• French: demi-jour (fr) m, crépuscule (fr) m
• Galician: crepúsculo (gl) m, lucenza f
• Georgian: ბინდი (bindi)
• German: Dämmerung (de) f, Zwielicht (de) n
• Greek: σούρουπο (el) n (soúroupo)

  Ancient: λύγη f (lúgē)

• Hebrew: דִּימְדּוּמִים‎ m pl
• Hindi: सांझ f (sāñjh), शफक (hi) f (śaphak)
• Hungarian: szürkület (hu), félhomály (hu) (both before sunrise and after sunset), pirkadat (hu), pirkadás, virradat (hu) (before sunrise only), alkonyat (hu) (after sunset only)
• Icelandic: ljósaskipti (is) f, húm (is) n, rökkur (is) m
• Irish: coimheascar m, clapsholas (ga) m
• Italian: crepuscolo (it) m
• Japanese: 夕暮れ (ja) (ゆうぐれ, yūgure), 黄昏 (ja) (たそがれ, tasogare, こうこん, kōkon)
• Khmer: អស្តង្គត (km) (ɑhsdɑŋkʊət)

• Korean: 어스름 (ko) (eoseureum)
• Latgalian: mikrieslis
• Latin: crepusculum n
• Latvian: krēsla (lv) f
• Lithuanian: prietema f
• Low German: Tweidüster
• Luxembourgish: Dämmerung f
• Macedonian: са́мрак m (sámrak)
• Malay: (sunset) teja
• Maori: ririko, rikoriko, matarikoriko, mārikoriko
• Navajo: hayííłką́ (morning), nahootsoii (evening)
• Norwegian: skumring (no) m (after setting of sun only), tussmørke (no) n

  Nynorsk: tusmørker n

• Persian: شفق‎ (fa) (šafaq), گرگ‌ومیش‎ (gorg-o-miš)
• Polish: zmierzch (pl) m, zmrok (pl) m
• Portuguese: crepúsculo (pt) m, lusco-fusco (pt) m
• Romanian: amurg (ro) n, crepuscul (ro) n, zori (ro)
• Russian: су́мерки (ru) pl (súmerki), су́мрак (ru) m (súmrak)
• Scottish Gaelic: ciaradh m, eadar-sholas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: су̏мра̄к m

  Roman: sȕmrāk (sh) m

• Slovak: súmrak m
• Slovene: somrak m
• Spanish: crepúsculo (es) m
• Swedish: skymning (sv) c (after setting of sun only), gryning (sv) c (before rising of sun only)
• Turkish: tan (tr)
• Ukrainian: су́тінки pl (sútinky), при́смерк m (prýsmerk)
• Vietnamese: hoàng hôn (vi) (after setting of sun only), bình minh (vi) (before rising of sun only)
• Võro: ago; hummogunõ ago (morning), õdagunõ ago (evening)

evening twilight

• Bashkir: эңер (eñer)
• Danish: skumring (da) c
• Estonian: eha
• Finnish: iltahämärä (fi)
• French: crépuscule (fr) m, entre chien et loup (fr)
• Galician: luscofusco m
• Georgian: დაბინდება (dabindeba), მწუხრი (mc̣uxri)
• German: Dämmerung (de) f
• Greek: σούρουπο (el) n (soúroupo)
• Hebrew: בין השמשות‎ (he) (bein ha-shemashot) (rabbinic Hebrew)
• Italian: crepuscolo (it) m
• Karachay-Balkar: ашхам къарангы (aşham qarañı)
• Latin: crepusculum
• Latvian: krēsla (lv) f
• Lithuanian: saulėlydis m

• Luxembourgish: Dämmerung f
• Maori: māhina, ririko
• Navajo: hayííłką́
• Old English: ǣfenglōm
• Portuguese: crepúsculo (pt) m
• Romanian: amurg (ro) n, crepuscul (ro) n
• Russian: су́мерки (ru) pl (súmerki)
• Scottish Gaelic: ciaradh m, eadar-sholas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: су̏мра̄к m

  Roman: sȕmrāk (sh) m

• Spanish: crepúsculo (es) m
• Tagalog: takip-silim (tl)
• Welsh: cyfnos (cy) m, llwydnos f

faint light; dubious medium

• Finnish: hämärä (fi), epäselvä (fi)
• French: pénombre (fr) f, brumes (fr) f
• German: Zwielicht (de) n, Halbdunkel (de) n
• Greek: μισοσκόταδο n (misoskótado)
• Italian: crepuscolo (it) m, penombra (it) f
• Japanese: 薄明かり (うすあかり, usu-akari)
• Latvian: krēsla (lv) f
• Macedonian: по́лумрак m (pólumrak), са́мрак m (sámrak)
• Portuguese: penumbra (pt) f, meia-luz f

• Romanian: crepuscul (ro) n
• Russian: су́мерки (ru) pl (súmerki), су́мрак (ru) m (súmrak), полумра́к (ru) m (polumrák), потёмки (ru) f pl (potjómki)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̏лумра̄к m, су̏мра̄к m

  Roman: pȍlumrāk (sh) m, sȕmrāk (sh) m

• Slovak: šero n
• Spanish: penumbra (es) f
• Swedish: skumrask (sv) n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} الشفق‎ (aš-šáfaq)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} rökkur (is), ^{(please verify)} ljósaskipti (is)

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} amhscarthanach f
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 황혼 (ko) (hwanghon)

Adjective

twilight (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to or resembling twilight; faintly illuminated; obscure.
   • 1717, Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard:

     O’er the twilight groves and dusky caves

See also

• crepuscular

Verb

twilight (third-person singular simple present twilights, present participle twilighting, simple past and past participle twilit or twilighted)

1. (transitive, poetic) To illuminate faintly.