dusk

English

Dusk

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /dʌsk/

  • Audio (US):

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• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /dʊsk/
• Rhymes: -ʌsk

Etymology 1

From Middle English dosk, dusk(e) (“dusky”, adj.), from Old English dox (“dark, swarthy”), from Proto-Germanic *duskaz (“dark, smoky”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwes-, related to *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, mist, haze”). Cognate to Latin fuscus (“dark, dusky”), Sanskrit धूसर (dhūsara, “dust-colored”), Old Irish donn (“dark”). Related to dye, dust and dun (see these for more). Doublet of fuscous.

Adjective

dusk (comparative dusker, superlative duskest)

1. Tending to darkness or blackness; moderately dark or black; dusky.
   • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:

     A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades.

Noun

dusk (countable and uncountable, plural dusks)

1. The time after the sun has set but when the sky is still lit by sunlight; the evening twilight period.

   Witnessing the dusk gives a feeling of solace.

   We caught a beautiful view of the dusk.

2. A darkish colour.
   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Whose dusk set off the whiteness of the skin.

3. The condition of being dusky; duskiness

Synonyms

• (period of time): evenfall, nightfall, smokefall, vespers; see also Thesaurus:dusk

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “period of time”): dawn, daybreak; see also Thesaurus:dawn

Hypernyms

• (period of time): twilight; see also Thesaurus:twilight

Hyponyms

• astronomical dusk
• civil dusk
• nautical dusk

Derived terms

• adusk
• duskdarter
• dusk-flat
• duskhawk
• duskhawker
• duskish
• duskless
• dusklight
• duskly
• duskness
• duskside
• dusktime
• duskward
• duskwards
• predusk

Translations

period of time at the end of day when sun is below the horizon but before full onset of night — see also sunset,‎ evening,‎ twilight

• Arabic: عِشَاء f (ʕišāʔ), غَسَق m (ḡasaq)
• Armenian: մթնշաղ (hy) (mtʻnšaġ), աղջամուղջ (hy) (aġǰamuġǰ)
• Bashkir: эңер (iñir)
• Basque: ilunabar
• Bhojpuri: गोधूलि (gōdhūli)
• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: sinarom (bcl)

• Bulgarian: здрач (bg) m (zdrač), сумрак (bg) m (sumrak), привечер (bg) f (privečer)
• Catalan: crepuscle (ca) m, capvespre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 黃昏 / 黄昏 (wong⁴ fan¹)

  Mandarin: 黃昏 / 黄昏 (zh) (huánghūn), 曫 / 𬁢 (zh) (luán) (rare)

• Czech: soumrak (cs) m
• Danish: skumring (da) c
• Dutch: schemering (nl) f, avondschemering (nl) f
• Egyptian: (jḫḫw)
• Esperanto: vesperiĝo, vespera krepusko
• Estonian: eha
• Ewe: wɔle
• Finnish: iltahämärä (fi), illansuu
• French: crépuscule (fr) m, entre chien et loup (fr)
• Galician: anoitecer (gl), bocanoite (gl), entre lusco e fusco, crepúsculo (gl) m
• Georgian: მწუხრი (mc̣uxri), დაისი (daisi), ბინდი (bindi), დაბინდება (dabindeba), შებინდება (šebindeba)
• German: Abenddämmerung (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: κνέφας n (knéphas)

• Hebrew: בֵּין עַרְבַּייִם (he) m (bein arbáim)
• Hindi: गोधूलि (hi) f (godhūli)
• Hungarian: alkony (hu), szürkület (hu), esthajnal (hu)
• Icelandic: ljósaskipti (is) f, húm (is) m, rökkur (is) n
• Indonesian: senja (id), sore (id)
• Ingrian: hämärä, hämärikko
• Irish: coineascar m, clapsholas (ga) m, titim na hoíche f
• 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)
• Korean: 땅거미 (ko) (ttanggeomi)
• Latgalian: mikrieslis
• Latin: crepusculum n
• Latvian: krēsla (lv) f
• Lithuanian: sutemos f pl
• Macedonian: самрак m (samrak), квечерина f (kvečerina)
• Maguindanao: silam
• Malayalam: സായംസന്ധ്യ (sāyaṁsandhya)
• Maltese: għabex m
• Manchu: ᡤᡝᡵᡥᡝᠨ
  ᠮᡠᡴᡳᠶᡝᠮᡝ (gerhen mukiyeme)
• Māori: māpouriki, pōrehurehu
• Navajo: hiłiijį́į́ʼ
• Norwegian: skumring (no) m
• Persian: شامگاه (fa) (šâmgâh)
• Polish: zmierzch (pl) m, zmrok (pl) m
• Portuguese: pôr do sol (pt) m, crepúsculo (pt) m, ocaso (pt), anoitecer (pt) m
• Romagnol: imbrunìr m
• Romanian: crepuscul (ro), apus (ro), amurg (ro) n
• Russian: су́мерки (ru) f pl (súmerki)
• Samoan: pogipogi
• Sanskrit: दोषस् (sa) n (doṣás)
• Scottish Gaelic: ciaradh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: су̏мра̄к m, су́тон m

  Latin: sȕmrāk (sh) m, súton (sh) m

• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: změrkanje n, změrki f pl

  Upper Sorbian: směrki, směrkanje n, ćmička f, ćmičkanje n

• Spanish: anochecer (es) m, crepúsculo​/​lubricán vespertino m, atardecer (es) m, oscurecer (es) m, obscurecer (es) m, anochecida (es) f, anochecido (es) m, atardecida (es) f
• Swedish: skymning (sv) c
• Tagalog: takipsilim (tl)
• Tamil: பட்டபோது (paṭṭapōtu)
• Telugu: మునిమాపు వేళ (munimāpu vēḷa), సాయం సంధ్య (sāyaṁ sandhya)
• Turkish: alacakaranlık (tr)
• Udmurt: акшан (akšan)
• Ukrainian: су́тінки m pl (sútinky)
• Vietnamese: chạng vạng (vi)
• Volapük: soaralulit (vo)
• Walloon: anuti (wa) f, vesprêye tote basse (wa) f, noer cwårt d' eure m, brune (wa) f, brunete (wa) f
• Welsh: llwydnos f
• Zazaki: tiji perayen

See also

times of dayedit

• dawn
• morning
• noon, midday
• afternoon
• dusk
• evening
• night
• midnight

Etymology 2

From Middle English dusken, from Old English doxian.

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.
   • 1936, Alfred Edward Housman, More Poems‎^[1], XXXIII, lines 25-27:

     I see the air benighted
     And all the dusking dales,
     And lamps in England lighted,

2. (transitive) To make dusk.
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:

     After the sun is up, that shadow which dusketh the light of the Moone must needs be under the earth.

Translations

to grow dusk

• Arabic: يَغْسِق m (yaḡsiq), يَعْتِم m (yaʕtim)
• Basque: ilunabartu
• Bulgarian: смрачава се (smračava se)
• Bulgarian: смрачава се (smračava se)
• Danish: skumre
• Finnish: hämärtää (fi), hämärtyä (fi) (grow dim), pimetä (fi) (grow dark)
• Georgian: შებინდება (šebindeba)
• German: dunkeln (de)
• Icelandic: rökkva, húma, dimma (is)
• Italian: tramontare (it), crepuscolare (it)
• Latvian: krēslot
• Norwegian: skumre
• Romanian: însera (ro), amurgi (ro)
• Spanish: anochecer (es), atardecer (es), tardecer (es), lobreguecer (es)
• Swedish: skymma (sv)

See also

• “dusk”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• skud

Middle English

Adjective

dusk

1. alternative form of dosk