twilight
Pronunciation: /ˈtwaɪˌlaɪt/
The English word “twilight” has 8 meanings listed here.
noun
- 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.
- The time when said light is visible; the period between daylight and darkness.
- Any faint light through which something is seen.
- The time when the sun is less than 18° below the horizon.
- An in-between or fading condition through which something is perceived.
adjective
- Pertaining to or resembling twilight; faintly illuminated; obscure.
- Synonym of mesopelagic (“Describing the pelagic zone of the ocean between the photic epipelagic and the aphotic bathypelagic zones, characterized by very minimal light.”)
verb
- To illuminate faintly.
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”).
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.