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): /nɑkˈtɚnəl/

• 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

Terms derived from nocturnal

• 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)
• Galician: nocturno m
• German: nachtaktiv (de)
• Greek: νυκτόβιος (el) (nyktóvios)
• Hungarian: éjjeli (hu)

• Ido: noktala (io)
• Interlingua: nocturne
• Japanese: 夜行 (やこう, yakō, やぎょう, yagyō), 夜行性 (やこうせい, yakōsei)
• Korean: 야행 (ko) (yahaeng), 야행성 (ko) (yahaengseong)
• Latvian: naksnīgs
• Maori: ohopō, moeao
• Persian: شبانه‎‎ (fa) (šabâne)
• Polish: nocny (pl)
• Portuguese: nocturno (pt), noturno (pt) m
• Russian: ночно́й (ru) (nočnój)
• Spanish: nocturno (es)
• Swedish: natt-, nattaktiv, aktiv om natten
• Turkish: gececil, noktürnâl (tr)
• Ukrainian: нічни́й (ničnýj)
• West Frisian: nachtlik, nacht-

taking place at night

• Catalan: nocturn (ca)
• Czech: noční (cs)
• Dutch: nachtelijk (nl)
• German: nächtlich (de)
• Greek: νυχτερινός (el) (nychterinós), νυχτιάτικος (el) (nychtiátikos)
• Interlingua: nocturne

• Latvian: naksnīgs
• Polish: nocny (pl)
• Russian: ночно́й (ru) (nočnój)
• Spanish: nocturno (es)
• Swedish: nattlig (sv)
• Turkish: geceleyin olan, geceye ait

Noun

nocturnal (plural nocturnals)

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

---

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)