English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English midnight, midnyght, mydnyght, (also as middelniȝte), from Old English midniht, middeniht, middeneaht, (also as midderneaht and middelniht), from Proto-Germanic *midjanahts (“midnight”), equivalent to mid- + night. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Midnoacht (“midnight”), Old High German mittinaht (“midnight”), Danish midnat (“midnight”), Swedish midnatt (“midnight”), Icelandic miðnætti (“midnight”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Middernoacht (“midnight”), Dutch middernacht (“midnight”), German Mitternacht (“midnight”).
Pronunciation[edit]
midnight (countable and uncountable, plural midnights)
- The middle of the night: the sixth temporal hour, equidistant between sunset and sunrise.
Thanks to its sonar, the narwhal can remain active even at midnight, unhindered by the darkness.
- 12 o'clock at night exactly.
- Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:
- "She twisted her hands behind her;
- but all the knots held good!
- She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
- They stretched and strained in the darkness,
- and the hours crawled by like years,
- Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,
- Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
- The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
12 o'clock
- Abenaki: nôwitebakad
- Afrikaans: middernag
- Akan: anadwo-kɔnkɔn
- Alabama: niɬhóota, tankatóohcha
- Albanian: mesnatë (sq) f
- Alemannic German: Mitternacht
- Amharic: እኩለ ሌሊት (ʾəkulä lelit)
- Arabic: مُنْتَصَف اَللَّيْل m (muntaṣaf al-layl)
- Armenian: կեսգիշեր (hy) (kesgišer)
- Asturian: medianueche m
- Aymara: chika aruma
- Azerbaijani: gecə yarısı
- Bambara: dugutila
- Bashkir: төн уртаһы (tön urtahï), ярты төн (yartï tön)
- Basque: gauerdi
- Belarusian: по́ўнач f (póŭnač)
- Bengali: মধ্যরাত (môddhrat)
- Bikol Central: matanga
- Bislama: medelnaet
- Breton: hanternoz (br) m, kreiznoz (br)
- Brunei Malay: tangah malam
- Bulgarian: полуно́щ (bg) f (polunóšt)
- Burmese: သန်းခေါင် (my) (san:hkaung)
- Catalan: mitjanit (ca) f
- Cebuano: tunganggabii
- Chamicuro: shawalasko
- Chamorro: tatalo' puengi
- Chechen: буьйсанан юкъ (büjsanan juq̇)
- Cherokee: ᏒᏃᏱ (svnoyi)
- Cheyenne: -sétôhtaa'eve
- Chichewa: pakati pa usiku
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 半夜 (zh) (bànyè), 子夜 (zh) (zǐyè), 午夜 (zh) (wǔyè)
- Cornish: hanter nos f
- Corsican: mezanotte f, meza notte f, mezzanotte f
- Crimean Tatar: yarı gece
- Czech: půlnoc (cs) f
- Danish: midnat (da) n
- Dutch: middernacht (nl) m
- Emilian: mezanot f
- Erzya: пелеве (peleve)
- Esperanto: noktmezo, noktomezo
- Estonian: kesköö (et)
- Evenki: долбонӣ дулинин (dolboņī duliņin), долбонӣ дулмак (dolboņī dulmak)
- Ewe: zãtitina
- Faroese: midnátt f
- Finnish: keskiyö (fi), puoliyö (fi)
- French: minuit (fr) f
- Friulian: miegegnot f
- Galician: medianoite f
- Georgian: შუაღამე (ka) (šuaɣame)
- German: Mitternacht (de) f
- Greek: μεσάνυχτα (el) n pl (mesánychta)
- Ancient Greek: μεσονύκτιον n (mesonúktion)
- Griko: ημισυνύττα f (imisinìtta)
- Greenlandic: unnuap-qeqqa
- Guaraní: pyharepyte
- Gujarati: મધરાત (madhrāt)
- Hausa: tsakad dare
- Hawaiian: aumoe, ʻauinapō
- Hebrew: חֲצוֹת הַלַּיְלָה (he) f (khatsòt-haláyla), חֲצוֹת (he) f (khatsót)
- Hindi: आधी रात f (ādhī rāt), आधीरात (hi) f (ādhīrāt), अधरात (hi) f (adhrāt), मध्यरात (hi) f (madhyarāt), मध्यरात्रि (hi) f (madhyarātri)
- Hungarian: éjfél (hu)
- Hunsrik: Hallebnacht f
- Icelandic: miðnætti (is) n, lágnætti (is) n
- Ido: nokto-mezo (io)
- Igbo: ime abali
- Indonesian: tengah malam (id)
- Ingush: бийсан юкъ (bīsan juq̇)
- Interlingua: medienocte
- Irish: meán oíche f
- Istriot: miezanuotto
- Italian: mezzanotte (it) f
- Japanese: 午前0時 (gozen reiji), 真夜中 (ja) (まよなか, mayonaka), 正子 (しょうし, shōshi)
- Kabuverdianu: meia-noti
- Kalmyk: сөөни өрәл (sööni öräl), сө дүл (sö dül)
- Kannada: ಮಧ್ಯರಾತ್ರಿ (kn) (madhyarātri)
- Kapampangan: kapitangang bengi
- Karakalpak: ярым ақшам, түн ортасы түн жартысы
- Karelian: keskiyö, syväinyö
- Kashubian: norda f
- Kazakh: жарым түн (jarım tün), түн ортасы (kk) (tün ortası)
- Khakas: орты хараа (ortı xaraa)
- Khmer: អធ្រាត្រ (km) (ʼatthriət)
- Komi-Zyrian: вой шӧр (voj šör)
- Korean: 자정 (子正) (ko) (jajeong)
- Kumyk: гечорта (geçorta)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: نیوەشەو (nîweşew)
- Northern Kurdish: nîvê şevê (ku), nîvşev (ku)
- Kyrgyz: түн ортосу (tün ortosu)
- Ladin: medanuote f
- Lao: ທຽງຄືນ (thīang khư̄n)
- Latgalian: pušnakts f
- Latin: media nox f, intempestum n
- Latvian: pusnakts m
- Limburgish: middernach
- Lithuanian: vidurnaktis m
- Lombard: mezzanott f (Milanese dialect)
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- Low German:
- German Low German: Middernacht f
- Luganda: wakati muttumbi
- Luxembourgish: Mëtternuecht f, Hallefnuecht (lb) f
- Macedonian: полноќ f (polnoḱ)
- Malagasy: mamatonalina (mg)
- Malay: tengah malam
- Malayalam: അർദ്ധരാത്രി (arddharātri)
- Maltese: nofsillejl
- Manx: mean oie
- Maori: weherua, weherua pō
- Marathi: मध्यरात्र (madhyarātra)
- Mari:
- Eastern Mari: йӱдпел (jüdpel)
- Western Mari: йыдпел (jydpel)
- Megleno-Romanian: pónoş
- Mirandese: meia nuite f
- Moksha: пялеве (pjaleve), векучка (vekučka)
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: шөнө дунд (shönö dund)
- Nahuatl: tlahcoyohual
- Nauruan: atugagan (na)
- Navajo: tłʼéʼííłnííʼ
- Neapolitan: mezanott' f
- Nepali: अधरात (adharāt), मध्यरात (madhyarāt)
- Nogai: юванлав (yuvanlav), семируьв (semirüv)
- Norman: migniet f (Guernsey)
- Northern Sami: gaskaidja
- Northern Sotho: bošegogare
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: midnatt (no) m or f
- Nynorsk: midnatt f
- Occitan: mièjanuèch (oc) f, mièjanuèit (oc) f
- Ossetian: ӕмби́сӕхсӕв (æmbísæxsæv)
- Papiamentu: meyanochi
- Pashto: نيمه شپه (ps) f (nímašpa)
- Persian: نیمه شب (fa) (nime šab), نیمهشب (nime-šab), نصف شب (nesf-e šab)
- Piedmontese: mesaneuit
- Plains Cree: ᐊᐱᐦᑕᑎᐱᐢᑲᐤ (apihtatipiskaw)
- Polish: północ (pl) f
- Portuguese: meia-noite (pt) f
- Quechua: chawpi tuta
- Romanian: miezul nopții (ro), miez de noapte (ro), mijloc de noapte n
- Moldavian: мезул нопций
- Romansch: mesanotg f
- Russian: по́лночь (ru) f (pólnočʹ)
- Rwanda-Rundi: igicuku 7 or 8, igi-cugu
- Sanskrit: अर्धरात्र (sa) (ardharātra)
- Sardinian: mesanote f, mesanoti f
- Scots: midnicht
- Scottish Gaelic: meadhan-oidhche m
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: по́ноћ f
- Roman: pónoć (sh) f
- Shor: орта тӱн
- Sicilian: menzannòtti f, menzannùotti f (Palermo dialect)
- Slovak: polnoc f
- Slovene: polnoč (sl) f
- Somali: habeen badh
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: połnoc f
- Upper Sorbian: połnóc f
- Southern Altai: тӱн ортосы (tün ortosï)
- Spanish: medianoche (es) f
- Sranan Tongo: mindrineti
- Swedish: midnatt (sv) c
- Tabasaran: гьацӏишвар (hac̣iš°ar)
- Tagalog: hatinggabi (tl)
- Tajik: ними шаб (nimi šab), нисфи шаб (nisfi šab)
- Tamil: நள்ளிரவு (ta) (naḷḷiravu)
- Tatar: төн уртасы (tön urtası)
- Telugu: నడిరేయి (te) (naḍirēyi)
- Thai: เที่ยงคืน (th) (tîiang-kʉʉn)
- Tibetan: ནམ་གུང (nam gung)
- Tigrinya: ፍርቂ ለይቲ (fərḳi läyti)
- Tofa: түн оъртусу
- Tok Pisin: biknait
- Tundra Nenets: талв
- Turkish: gece yarısı (tr)
- Turkmen: ýary gije
- Udmurt: уйшор (ujšor)
- Ukrainian: пі́вніч (uk) f (pívnič)
- Urdu: آدھی رات f (ādhī rāt), نصف شب (nisf śab)
- Uyghur: يېرىم كىچە (yërim kiche)
- Uzbek: yarim kecha, yarim tun
- Venetian: mezanote f
- Veps: keskö, pol’ö
- Vietnamese: nửa đêm (vi)
- Vilamovian: mytułnaocht
- Volapük: zeneit (vo)
- Võro: kesküü
- Walloon: meynute (wa)
- Waray-Waray: katutngâ
- Welsh: canol nos (cy), hanner nos (cy) m
- West Frisian: midnacht
- Wolof: xaaji-guddi
- Yakut: түүн үөһэ (tüün üöhe)
- Yiddish: האַלבע נאַכט f (halbe nakht)
- Zazaki: nimsew
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Adjective[edit]
midnight (not comparable)
- (poetic) Utterly dark or black.
2013, Sharon Ricklin, Ravenswynd Legends, page 143:Free and falling, his midnight hair flowed out all around us like a silk canopy.
See also[edit]
