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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

twilight.

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.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtwaɪˌlaɪt/

  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.

    countable · uncountable
    I could just make out her face in the twilight.

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

    countable · uncountable
    It was twilight by the time I got back home.

  3. Any faint light through which something is seen.

    countable · uncountable

  4. The time when the sun is less than 18° below the horizon.

    countable · uncountable

  5. An in-between or fading condition through which something is perceived.

    broadly · countable · figuratively · uncountable
    The twilight of one's life
Where this word comes from

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”).

adj/ˈtwaɪˌlaɪt/

  1. Pertaining to or resembling twilight; faintly illuminated; obscure.

    not-comparable

  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.”)

    not-comparable
    twilight zone
Where this word comes from

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”).

verb/ˈtwaɪˌlaɪt/

  1. To illuminate faintly.

    poetic · transitive
Where this word comes from

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, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.