twilight

English

Etymology

From Middle English twilight, twyelyghte, from Old English twēonelēoht (“twilight”), 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: /ˈtwaɪlaɪt/, X-SAMPA: /"twaIlaIt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

twilight (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.

3. Any faint light through which something is seen; an in-between or fading condition.

   The twilight of probability. —John Locke.

Synonyms

• dusk, evenfall, evening, eventide, end, gloaming, nightfall, sundown
• See also Wikisaurus:dusk

Coordinate terms

• golden hour

Hyponyms

• dawn
• dusk

Derived terms

• astronomical twilight
• civil twilight
• nautical twilight
• twilightish
• twilighty
• twilight zone

Translations

light before rising, and after the setting, of the sun

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: crepuscle (ca) m
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: soumrak (cs) m
• Danish: tusmørke (da) n
• Dutch: schemering (nl) f, deemstering (nl) f, tweelicht (nl) n
• Esperanto: krepusko (eo)
• Estonian: agu (et); koit (et) (morning), eha (et) (evening)
• Faroese: skýming (fo) f, dimming (fo) f, hálvalýsi (fo) n
• Finnish: aamuhämärä (fi), iltahämärä (fi)
• French: aube (fr) f (morning), crépuscule (fr) m (evening)
• Galician: crepúsculo (gl) m
• German: Dämmerung (de) f, Zwielicht (de) n
• Greek: λυκόφως (el) (lykóphos) n, σούρουπο (el) (súrupo) n, μούχρωμα (el) (múxroma) n
• Hungarian: szürkület (hu), félhomály (hu) (both before sunrise and after sunset), pirkadat (hu), pirkadás (hu), virradat (hu) (before sunrise only), alkonyat (hu) (after sunset only)
• Icelandic: ljósaskipti (is) f, húm (is) n, rökkur (is) m
• Irish: coimheascar (ga) 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: please add this translation if you can

• Latgalian: mikrieslis
• Latin: crepusculum (la) n
• Latvian: krēsla (lv)
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Low German: Tweidüster (nds)
• Luxembourgish: Dämmerung (lb) f
• Malay: (sunset) teja (ms)
• Maori: ririko (mi), rikoriko (mi)
• Norwegian: skumring (no) m (after setting of sun only)
• Persian: شفق (fa) (šafaq), گرگ‌ومیش (fa) (gorg-o-miš)
• Polish: zmierzch (pl) m
• Portuguese: crepúsculo (pt) m
• Romanian: amurg (ro) n, crepuscul (ro) n
• Russian: сумерки (ru) (súmerki) pl
• Scottish Gaelic: ciaradh (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сумрак (sh) m

  Roman: sumrak (sh) m

• Slovak: súmrak (sk) m
• Spanish: crepúsculo (es) m
• Swedish: skymning (sv) c (after setting of sun only), gryning (sv) c (before rising of sun only)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Võro: ago; hummogunõ ago (morning), õdagunõ ago (evening)

time between daylight and darkness

• Danish: skumring (da) c
• French: crépuscule (fr) m, entre chien et loup (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Dämmerung (de) f
• Greek: λυκόφως (el) (lykóphos) n, μισοσκόταδο (el) (misoskótaðo) n, σούρουπο (el) (súrupo) n, μούχρωμα (el) (múxroma) n
• Hebrew: (rabbinic Hebrew) בין השמשות (he) (bein ha-shemashot)
• Italian: crepuscolo (it) m
• Luxembourgish: Dämmerung (lb) f
• Portuguese: crepúsculo (pt) m

• Romanian: amurg (ro) n, crepuscul (ro) n
• Russian: сумерки (ru) (súmerki) pl
• Scottish Gaelic: ciaradh (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сумрак (sh) m

  Roman: sumrak (sh) m

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

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 (el) (misoskótaðo) n, σύθαμπο (el) (síθambo) n
• Italian: crepuscolo (it) m
• Japanese: 薄明かり (ja) (うすあかり, usu-akari)
• Macedonian: полумрак (mk) (pólumrak) m, самрак (mk) (sámrak) m
• Romanian: crepuscul (ro) n

• Russian: сумерки (ru) (súmerki) pl, сумрак (ru) (súmrak) m, полумрак (ru) (polumrák) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: полумрак (sh) m, сумрак (sh) m

  Roman: polumrak (sh) m, sumrak (sh) m

• Slovak: šero (sk) 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 Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: الشفق (aš-šáfaq)

• Icelandic: rökkur, ljósaskipti
• Korean: 황혼 (hwanghon)

Adjective

twilight (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to or resembling twilight.

   O’er the twilight groves and dusky caves. —Alexander Pope.

See also

• crepuscular