nocturnal

English

Etymology

From Middle French nocturnal, from Latin nocturnus (“nocturnal, nightly”), from Latin nox (“night”), from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”). Cognates include Ancient Greek νύξ (núx), Sanskrit नक्ति (nákti), Old English niht (English night) and Proto-Slavic *noťь.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /nɒkˈtɜː(ɹ).nəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /nɑkˈtɝ.nəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)nəl

Adjective

nocturnal (comparative more nocturnal, superlative most nocturnal)

1. (of a person, creature, group, or species) Primarily active during the night.

   nocturnal birds

2. (of an occurrence) Taking place at night, nightly.
   • 2013 January 1, Paul Bartel, Ashli Moore, “Avian Migration: The Ultimate Red-Eye Flight”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 1, page 47–48:

     Many of these classic methods are still used, with some modern improvements. For example, with the aid of special microphones and automated sound detection software, ornithologists recently reported […] that pine siskins (Spinus pinus) undergo an irregular, nomadic type of nocturnal migration.

   a suspicious nocturnal outing

Antonyms

• diurnal

Coordinate terms

• crepuscular

Derived terms

• nocturnal arc
• nocturnal arch
• nocturnal delirium
• nocturnal emission
• nocturnalist
• nocturnality
• nocturnally
• nocturnal penile tumescence
• nocturnal pollution
• nonnocturnal

 

Translations

primarily active during the night

• Armenian: գիշերային (hy) (gišerayin)
• Belarusian: начны́ (načný)
• Bulgarian: но́щен (bg) (nóšten)
• Catalan: nocturn (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 夜的 (zh) (yè de), 晝伏夜出 (zh), 昼伏夜出 (zh) (zhòufúyèchū)

• Czech: noční (cs)
• Dutch: nachtelijk (nl), nacht-
• Esperanto: nokta
• Finnish: yö- (former part of compound), yöllinen (fi), öinen (fi), nokturnaalinen (scientific)
• French: nocturne (fr)
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• Galician: nocturno m
• German: nachtaktiv (de)
• Greek: νυκτόβιος (el) (nyktóvios)

  Ancient: νυκτερινός (nukterinós)

• Hungarian: éjjeli (hu)
• Ido: noktala (io)

• Interlingua: nocturne
• Italian: notturno (it)
• Japanese: 夜行 (ja) (やこう, yakō, やぎょう, yagyō), 夜行性 (やこうせい, yakōsei)
• Korean: 야행(夜行) (ko) (yahaeng), 야행성(夜行性) (ko) (yahaengseong)
• Latvian: naksnīgs
• Maori: ohopō, moeao
• Old English: nihtlīċ
• Persian: شبانه‎ (fa) (šabâne)
• Piedmontese: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: nocny (pl)
• Portuguese: noturno (pt) m
• Romagnol: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: ночно́й (ru) (nočnój)
• Spanish: nocturno (es), noctámbulo (es), trasnochador (es)
• Swedish: natt-, nattaktiv, aktiv om natten
• Turkish: gececil, noktürnâl (tr)
• Ukrainian: нічни́й (ničnýj)
• West Frisian: nachtlik, nacht-

taking place at night

• Arabic: لَيْلِيّ‎ (layliyy)
• Belarusian: начны́ (načný)
• Bulgarian: но́щен (bg) (nóšten)
• Catalan: nocturn (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 夜間的 (zh), 夜间的 (zh) (yèjiān de)

• Czech: noční (cs)
• Dutch: nachtelijk (nl)
• French: nocturne (fr)
• German: nächtlich (de)
• Greek: νυχτερινός (el) (nychterinós), νυχτιάτικος (el) (nychtiátikos)

  Ancient Greek: νυκτερινός (nukterinós)

• Interlingua: nocturne
• Japanese: 夜の (ja) (よ​るの, yoru no), 夜間の (ja) (やかんの, yakan no)
• Korean: 밤의 (ko) (bamui), 야간의 (ko) (yaganui)

• Latvian: naksnīgs
• Macedonian: ноќен (noḱen)
• Maori: tūāpō
• Persian: شبانه‎‎ (šabâne)
• Polish: nocny (pl)
• Russian: ночно́й (ru) (nočnój)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: но̀ћнӣ

  Roman: nòćnī (sh)

• Slovak: nočný (sk)
• Slovene: nočen (sl)
• Spanish: nocturno (es)
• Swedish: nattlig (sv)
• Tajik: шабона (tg) (šabona)
• Turkish: geceleyin olan, geceye ait
• Ukrainian: нічни́й (ničnýj)

Noun

nocturnal (plural nocturnals)

1. A person or creature that is active at night.
2. (historical) A device for telling the time at night, rather like a sundial but read according to the stars.

   Synonym: star clock

   • 2015, David Wootton, The Invention of Science, Penguin 2016, p. 188:

     A rather different instrument was the nocturnal: it enabled you to tell the time at night, provided you knew the date, from the position of the stars in the constellation of the Great Bear, which rotate around the Pole Star.

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Old French

Adjective

nocturnal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular nocturnale)

1. nocturnal

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (nocturnal)

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Portuguese

Adjective

nocturnal m or f (plural nocturnais, comparable)

1. Superseded spelling of noturnal. (Superseded in Brazil by the 1943 spelling reform and by the Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990 elsewhere. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and as an alternative spelling in Portugal.)