wee hours

English

Noun

wee hours pl (plural only)

1. The very early morning; the early morning hours; the nighttime hours following midnight, when most people are asleep.
   • 2011 March 15, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic):

     When I was young, I was up every night until the wee hours. Now I'm up every hour at night to wee.

Usage notes

Within the context of a sentence, almost always used with the definite article "the", especially, or a demonstrative adjective.

Synonyms

• (very early morning): small hours, wee small hours; see also Thesaurus:early morning

Translations

very early morning

• Finnish: pikkutunnit
• French: petites heures (fr) f pl
• German: früger Morgen m
• Hebrew: הַשָּׁעוֹת הַקְּטַנּוֹת (he) f pl (hasha'ót haqtanót)
• Old English: hancrēd
• Polish: no equivalent term in Polish, but see do białego rana (pl)
• Portuguese:madrugada (pt) f
• Spanish: altas horas f pl, las tantas f or f pl, madrugada (es) f
• Swedish: småtimmarna (sv)
• Vietnamese: sáng sớm (vi), đêm (vi)