twilight

English

Etymology

PIE word
*dwóh₁

From Middle English twilight, twyelyghte, equivalent to twi- (“double, half-”) +‎ light, literally ‘second light, half-light’. Cognate to Scots twa licht, twylicht, twielicht (“twilight”), Low German twilecht, twelecht (“twilight”), Dutch tweelicht (“twilight, dusk”), German Zwielicht (“twilight, dusk”). Compare Old English twēone lēoht (“twilight”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtwaɪˌlaɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

twilight (countable and uncountable, plural twilights)

1. The soft light in the sky seen before the rising and (especially) after the setting of the sun, occasioned by the illumination of the earth’s atmosphere by the direct rays of the sun and their reflection on the earth.

   Near-synonym: half-light

   I could just make out her face in the twilight.

2. The time when this light is visible; the period between daylight and darkness.

   Hyponyms: dawn, dusk

   It was twilight by the time I got back home.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

3. Any faint light through which something is seen.
   • 1927, Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop, Book VII, section 4, page 233:

     Two women, Eusabio’s wife and sister, looked on from the deep twilight of the hut.

4. (astronomy) The time when the sun is less than 18° below the horizon.
5. (figurative, by extension) An in-between or fading condition through which something is perceived.

   The twilight of one's life

   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
     , Book IV, Chapter XIV

     The twilight […] of probability.

   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     “They have not enough heart,” said Edith, with a smile. The very twilight of a smile: so singularly were its light and darkness blended.

Synonyms

• (period between daylight and darkness): blue hour, gloaming; see also Thesaurus:twilight

Hypernyms

• light

Hyponyms

• (period between daylight and darkness): cockcrow, first light / evenfall, eventide; see also Thesaurus:dawn and Thesaurus:dusk

Hyponyms

• astronomical twilight
• civil twilight
• nautical twilight

Coordinate terms

• dawn (end of ~ in the morning)
• dusk (end of ~ in the evening)
• evening
• golden hour
• nightfall
• sundown

Derived terms

• twilight anesthesia
• twilight industry
• twilight language
• twilightish
• Twilight of the Gods
• twilight shift
• twilights
• twilighty
• twilight sleep
• twilight years
• twilight zone
• twilit

Translations

light before rising and after the setting of the Sun

• Afrikaans: skemer (af)
• Albanian: muzg (sq) m
• Arabic: شَفَق m (šafaq)
• Aramaic: ܢܘܨܦܐ, ܒܗܪܐ
• Armenian: մթնշաղ (hy) (mtʻnšaġ)
• Azerbaijani: toran
• Bashkir: эңер (eñer)
• Belarusian: змярка́нне n (zmjarkánnje), змрок m (zmrok), прыце́мак m (prycjémak), суто́нне n (sutónnje)
• Bulgarian: здрач (bg) m (zdrač), су́мрак (bg) m (súmrak)
• Catalan: crepuscle (ca) m
• Cebuano: kilumkilom
• Czech: soumrak (cs) m
• Danish: tusmørke n, skumring (da) c (after setting of sun only), gry n, daggry (da) n (before rising of sun only)
• Dutch: tweelicht (nl) n, deemstering (nl) f, schemering (nl) f
• Egyptian: (jḫḫw)
• Esperanto: krepusko
• Estonian: agu (et); koit (morning), eha (evening)
• Faroese: skýming f, dimming f, hálvalýsi n
• Finnish: hämärä (fi), aamuhämärä (fi), iltahämärä (fi)
• French: demi-jour (fr) m, crépuscule (fr) m
• Galician: crepúsculo (gl) m, lucenza (gl) f
• Georgian: ბინდი (bindi)
• German: Zwielicht (de) n, Dämmerung (de) f
• Greek: σούρουπο (el) n (soúroupo)

  Ancient: λύγη f (lúgē)

• Hebrew: דִּימְדּוּמִים m pl
• Hiligaynon: sirom, hinudlaw
• Hindi: गोधुलि (godhuli) (evening twilight), झुटपुटा (hi) (jhuṭpuṭā), सांध्य प्रकाश (sāndhya prakāś), द्वाभा (hi) (dvābhā)
• Hungarian: szürkület (hu), félhomály (hu) (both before sunrise and after sunset), pirkadat (hu), pirkadás (hu), virradat (hu) (before sunrise only), alkonyat (hu) (after sunset only)
• Icelandic: ljósaskipti (is) f, húm (is) n, rökkur (is) n
• Ilocano: sardam, suripet
• Irish: coimheascar m, clapsholas (ga) m
• Italian: crepuscolo (it) m
• Japanese: 夕暮れ (ja) (ゆうぐれ, yūgure), 黄昏 (ja) (たそがれ, tasogare, こうこん, kōkon)
• Khmer: អស្តង្គត (km) (ʼɑhsdɑngkŭət)
• Korean: 어스름 (ko) (eoseureum), 황혼(黃昏) (ko) (hwanghon)
• Latgalian: mikrieslis
• Latin: crepusculum n
• Latvian: krēsla (lv) f
• Lithuanian: prietema f
• Low German: Tweidüster
• Luxembourgish: Dämmerung f
• Macedonian: са́мрак m (sámrak)
• Malay: (sunset) teja
• Maori: ririko, rikoriko, matarikoriko, mārikoriko
• Navajo: hayííłką́ (morning), nahootsoii (evening)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skumring (no) m (after setting of sun only), tussmørke (no) n

  Nynorsk: tussmørke n, skumring f, skreddartime m

• Old English: ǣfenglōm m
• Persian:

  Dari: شَفَق (šafaq)

  Iranian Persian: شَفَق (šafağ), گُرْگ‌ومیش (gorg-o-miš)

• Polish: zmierzch (pl) m, zmrok (pl) m
• Portuguese: crepúsculo (pt) m, lusco-fusco (pt) m
• Romanian: amurg (ro) n, crepuscul (ro) n, zori (ro)
• Russian: су́мерки (ru) pl (súmerki), су́мрак (ru) m (súmrak)
• Scottish Gaelic: ciaradh m, eadar-sholas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: су̏мра̄к m

  Roman: sȕmrāk (sh) m

• Slovak: súmrak m
• Slovene: somrak m
• Southern Altai: эҥер (eŋer)
• Spanish: crepúsculo (es) m
• Swedish: tveljus (sv) n, skymning (sv) c (after sunset only), gryning (sv) c (before sunrise only)
• Tagalog: takipsilim (tl), dapithapon (after setting of sun only), bukang-liwayway (tl) (before rising of sun only)
• Tamil: மெல்லொளி (melloḷi)
• Thai: สนธยา (th) (sǒn-tá-yaa)
• Tocharian B: sānti
• Turkish: tan (tr)
• Udmurt: акшан (akšan)
• Ukrainian: су́тінки pl (sútinky), при́смерк m (prýsmerk)
• Urdu: شَفَق (ur) f (śafaq)
• Vietnamese: hoàng hôn (vi) (after setting of sun only), bình minh (vi) (before rising of sun only)
• Võro: ago; hummogunõ ago (morning), õdagunõ ago (evening)
• Waray-Waray: sidsid, salidsid, sirom

evening twilight

• Afrikaans: skemeraand sg
• Aklanon: kahapunanon
• Bashkir: эңер (eñer)
• Bikol Central: sinarum
• Bulgarian: полумра́к (bg) m (polumrák)
• Cebuano: kilumkilom
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黃昏 / 黄昏 (zh) (huánghūn), 薄暮 (zh) (bómù)

• Czech: stmívání n
• Danish: skumring (da) c
• Estonian: eha
• Finnish: iltahämärä (fi)
• French: crépuscule (fr) m, entre chien et loup (fr)
• Galician: luscofusco m
• Georgian: დაბინდება (dabindeba), მწუხრი (mc̣uxri)
• German: Dämmerung (de) f
• Greek: σούρουπο (el) n (soúroupo), λυκόφως (el) n (lykófos)
• Hebrew: בֵּין הַשְּׁמָשׁוֹת (he) (bein ha-shemashot) (rabbinic Hebrew)
• Hiligaynon: sirom, hinudlaw
• Ilocano: sardam, suripet
• Indonesian: senja kala (id)
• Italian: crepuscolo (it) m
• Karachay-Balkar: ашхам къарангы (aşxam qarañı)
• Kazakh: қаракөлеңке (qaraköleñke)
• Korean: 황혼(黃昏) (ko) (hwanghon), 땅거미 (ko) (ttanggeomi), 어스름 (ko) (eoseureum)
• Latin: crepusculum
• Latvian: krēsla (lv) f
• Lithuanian: saulėlydis m
• Luxembourgish: Dämmerung f
• Malay: senja kala
• Maori: māhina, ririko
• Maranao: merimon
• Navajo: hayííłką́
• Old English: ǣfenglōm m
• Pangasinan: sirom
• Portuguese: crepúsculo (pt) m
• Romanian: amurg (ro) n, crepuscul (ro) n
• Russian: су́мерки (ru) pl (súmerki)
• Scottish Gaelic: ciaradh m, eadar-sholas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: су̏мра̄к m

  Roman: sȕmrāk (sh) m

• Spanish: crepúsculo (es) m
• Tagalog: dapithapon, takipsilim (tl)
• Tamil: மாலை மெல்லொளி (mālai melloḷi)
• Tausug: magrib
• Waray-Waray: sidsid, salidsid, sirom
• Welsh: cyfnos (cy) m, llwydnos f

faint light; dubious medium

• Afrikaans: skemerdonker sg
• Bulgarian: дрезгавина́ (bg) f (drezgaviná)
• Finnish: hämärä (fi), epäselvä (fi)
• French: pénombre (fr) f, brumes (fr) f
• German: Zwielicht (de) n, Halbdunkel (de) n
• Greek: μισοσκόταδο n (misoskótado)
• Italian: crepuscolo (it) m, penombra (it) f
• Japanese: 薄明かり (うすあかり, usuakari)
• Latvian: krēsla (lv) f
• Macedonian: по́лумрак m (pólumrak), са́мрак m (sámrak)
• Polish: półmrok (pl) m, półzmrok m
• Portuguese: penumbra (pt) f, meia-luz f
• Romanian: crepuscul (ro) n
• Russian: су́мерки (ru) pl (súmerki), су́мрак (ru) m (súmrak), полумра́к (ru) m (polumrák), потёмки (ru) f pl (potjómki)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̏лумра̄к m, су̏мра̄к m

  Roman: pȍlumrāk (sh) m, sȕmrāk (sh) m

• Slovak: šero n
• Spanish: penumbra (es) f
• Swedish: skumrask (sv) n
• Tamil: மெல்லொளி (melloḷi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} الشفق (aš-šáfaq)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} rökkur (is), ^{(please verify)} ljósaskipti (is)
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} amhscarthanach f

Adjective

twilight (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to or resembling twilight; faintly illuminated; obscure.
   • 1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:
2. Synonym of mesopelagic (“Describing the pelagic zone of the ocean between the photic epipelagic and the aphotic bathypelagic zones, characterized by very minimal light.”)

   twilight zone

See also

• crepuscular

Verb

twilight (third-person singular simple present twilights, present participle twilighting, simple past and past participle twilit or twilighted)

1. (transitive, poetic) To illuminate faintly.