dusk

Dusk at Sutro Baths in San Francisco

English

Etymology

From Middle English dosk, duske (adj., “dusky”), from Old English dox (“dark, swarthy”), from Proto-Germanic *duskaz (“dark, smoky”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhūs (cf. Old Irish donn 'dark', Latin fuscus 'dark, dusky', Sanskrit dhūsaras 'dust-colored'), from *dhū, dheu- 'to smoke, dust'. More at dye. Related to dust.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /dʌsk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌsk

Noun

dusk (plural dusks)

1. A period of time occurring at the end of the day during which the sun sets.

Synonyms

• sunset
• sundown
• evenfall
• smokefall
• vespers

Antonyms

• dawn

Hyponyms

• gloaming
• twilight

Translations

a period of time occurring at the end of the day during which the sun sets

Armenian: մթնշաղ (mt'nšaġ), աղջամուղջ (aġǰamuġǰ) Bulgarian: здрач (bg) m., сумрак (bg) m., привечер (bg) f. Catalan: crepuscle (ca) m., capvespre (ca) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 黃昏 (zh), 黄昏 (zh) (huánghūn) Croatian: sȕmrāk (hr) m. Czech: soumrak (cs) m. Danish: skumring (da) Dutch: schemering (nl) Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Ewe: wɔle Finnish: iltahämärä (fi), illansuu (fi) French: crépuscule (fr) m. German: Abenddämmerung (de) f. Hungarian: alkony (hu), szürkület (hu), esthajnal (hu) Icelandic: ljósaskipti (is) f., húm (is) m.

Indonesian: senja, sore Italian: crepuscolo (it) m., tramonto (it) m. Japanese: 夕暮れ (ja) (yūgure, ゆうぐれ), 黄昏 (ja) (tasogare, たそがれ; kōkon, こうこん) Macedonian: самрак (mk) (sámrak) m., квечерина (mk) (kvečérina) f. Norwegian: skumring (no) m. Polish: zmierzch (pl) m. Portuguese: pôr do sol (pt) m., crepúsculo (pt) m., ocaso (pt) Romanian: crepuscul apus Russian: сумерки (ru) (súmerki) f. pl. Scottish Gaelic: ciaradh (gd) m. Serbian: sumrak (sr) m., suton (sr) m. Spanish: crepúsculo (es) m. Swedish: skymning (sv) c. Telugu: మునిమాపు వేళ (munimaapu vaeLa), సాయం సంధ్య (saayaM saMdhya) Volapük: soaralulit (vo)

See also

• crepuscular

Verb

dusk (third-person singular simple present dusks, present participle dusking, simple past and past participle dusked)

1. (intransitive) to begin to lose light or whiteness; to grow dusk
   • Alfred Edward Housman, More Poems, XXXIII, lines 25-27

     I see the air benighted

     And all the dusking dales,

     And lamps in England lighted,

Translations

to grow dusk

Finnish: hämärtää (fi), hämärtyä (fi) (grow dim); pimetä (fi) (grow dark)

Anagrams

• skud