sundial

English

a sundial

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥der.

Proto-Germanic *sunnô

Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ

Proto-West Germanic *sunnā

Old English sunne

Middle English sonne

English sun

Proto-Indo-European *dyew-

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *dyḗws

Proto-Italic *djous

Latin diēs

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin diālis

Middle French dyalbor.

Middle English diall

English dial

English sundial

From sun +‎ dial, a clarification of dial after it was used for other objects as well.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌnˌdaɪ.əl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

sundial (plural sundials)

1. A device measuring the time of day by the position of a shadow cast by a pole or plate (gnomon) upon an engraved series of marks.

   The birdbath includes a small gnomon that acts as a sundial with markings on the basin if it's aligned correctly with the sun.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there.
     "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."

   • 1985 April 4, Daryln Brewer, “HELPFUL HARDWARE; AN ARRAY OF SUNDIALS”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     The shop carries more than a dozen sundials, mostly of bronze, plus an astrolabe ($650) of wrought iron.

   • 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 3, in The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 60:

     It was Oxford now—the matriculation photograph, posed in the stony front quad at Corpus, the pelican on top of the sundial appearing to sit on the head of the lanky, begowned chemist at the centre of the back row.

2. A sea snail of the genus Heliacus.

Synonyms

• dial, horologe, horologium (archaic)

Hyponyms

• (on churches): mass dial, tide dial, scratch dial

Coordinate terms

• sciatheric (adj.); gnomon, style, cock (marker)

Translations

device noting the time of day by the position of a shadow

• Afrikaans: sonwyzer
• Albanian: orë diellore
• Arabic: مِزْوَلَة (mizwala)
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: արեւի ժամացույց (arewi žamacʻuycʻ)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: reló de Sol m
• Azerbaijani: günəş saatı
• Basque: eguzki erloju
• Belarusian: со́нечны гадзі́ннік m (sónječny hadzínnik)
• Bengali: সূর্যঘড়ি (bn) (śurjoghoṛi)
• Breton: horolaj-heol m
• Bulgarian: слъ́нчев часо́вник m (slắnčev časóvnik)
• Burmese: နေ နာရီ c (ne nari)
• Catalan: rellotge de sol m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 日晷 (zh) (rìguǐ), 日規 / 日规 (zh) (rìguī)

• Corsican: meridiana f, miridiana f
• Czech: sluneční hodiny (cs) f pl
• Danish: solur (da) n
• Dutch: zonnewijzer (nl) m
• Emilian: please add this translation if you can
• Esperanto: sunhorloĝo
• Estonian: päikesekell
• Extremaduran: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: sólur n
• Finnish: aurinkokello (fi)
• French: cadran solaire (fr) m
• Galician: reloxo de sol (gl) m
• Georgian: მზის საათი (mzis saati)
• German: Sonnenuhr (de) f
• Greek: ηλιακό ρολόι (el) n (iliakó rolói)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hawaiian: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: שעון שמש (he) m (sh'ón shémesh)
• Hindi: सौर-घड़ी f (saur-ghaṛī), धूपघड़ी (hi) f (dhūpghaṛī)
• Hungarian: napóra (hu)
• Icelandic: sólúr n
• Ido: sunohorlojo (io)
• Indonesian: jam matahari
• Irish: clog gréine m
• Italian: meridiana (it) f, orologio solare, gnomone (it) m, eliotropio (it) m
• Japanese: 日時計 (ja) (ひどけい, hidokei)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: күн сағаттары (kün sağattarı)
• Khmer: នាឡិកាព្រះអាទិត្យ (niele’kaa preah aatɨt)
• Korean: 해시계 (haesigye)
• Lao: ນາລິກາແດດ (nā li kā dǣt)
• Latin: sōlārium hōrologium n, sōlārium (la) n
• Latvian: saules pulkstenis m
• Leonese: please add this translation if you can
• Ligurian: relêuio a sô m
• Lithuanian: saulės laikrodis m
• Lombard: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: сончев часовник m (sončev časovnik)
• Malay: jam matahari
• Malayalam: സൂര്യഘടികാരം (ml) (sūryaghaṭikāraṁ)
• Māori: karaka ātārangi
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Neapolitan: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: solur n

  Nynorsk: solur n

• Occitan: mòstra (oc) de (oc) solelh (oc) f
• Odia: ସୂର୍ଯ୍ୟଘଡ଼ି (surjyaghaṛi)
• Old English: sōlmerca m, dæġmǣl
• Persian: ساعت آفتابی (fa) (sâ'at-e âftâbi)
• Piedmontese: please add this translation if you can
• Plautdietsch: Sonnenklock f
• Polish: zegar słoneczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: relógio de sol (pt) m, relógio do sol m, relógio solar (pt) m, solário (pt) m
• Romagnol: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: ceas solar (ro) n, cadran solar (ro) n
• Russian: со́лнечные часы́ (ru) m pl (sólnečnyje časý)
• Scottish Gaelic: uaireadair-grèine m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сунчаник m, сунчани сат m (Croatia), сунчани часовник m (Bosnia, Serbia)

  Latin: sunčanik (sh) m, sunčani sat m (Croatia), sunčani časovnik m (Bosnia, Serbia)

• Sicilian: miridiana f
• Slovak: slnečné hodiny f pl
• Slovene: sónčna úra (sl) f
• Spanish: reloj solar m, reloj de sol m
• Swahili: bonyeza (sw)
• Swedish: solur n
• Tagalog: oras-araw, kuwadrante
• Tamil: சூரிய மணிகாட்டி (cūriya maṇikāṭṭi)
• Telugu: నీడగడియారము (nīḍagaḍiyāramu), సూర్యఘంట (sūryaghaṇṭa)
• Thai: นาฬิกาแดด (th) (naa-lí-gaa-dɛ̀ɛt)
• Turkish: güneş saati (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: گونش ساعتی (güneş saʾati)

• Ukrainian: со́нячний годи́нник m (sónjačnyj hodýnnyk)
• Vietnamese: đồng hồ mặt trời
• Volapük: solaglok
• Walloon: cwadran solaire
• Welsh: deial haul m
• Yiddish: זון־זײגער (yi) (zun-zeyger)

Anagrams

• dunsail