dusk

English

Dusk

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dʌsk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌsk

Etymology 1

From Middle English dosk, dusk(e) (“dusky”, adj.), from Old English dox (“dark, swarthy”), from Proto-Germanic *duskaz (“dark, smoky”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwes-, related to *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, mist, haze”). Cognate to Latin fuscus (“dark, dusky”), Sanskrit धूसर (dhūsara, “dust-colored”), Old Irish donn (“dark”). Related to dye, dust and dun (see these for more).

Adjective

dusk (comparative dusker, superlative duskest)

1. Tending to darkness or blackness; moderately dark or black; dusky.
   • 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:

     A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades.

Noun

dusk (countable and uncountable, plural dusks)

1. The time after the sun has set but when the sky is still lit by sunlight; the evening twilight period.
2. A darkish colour.
   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Whose dusk set off the whiteness of the skin.

3. The condition of being dusky; duskiness

Synonyms

• (period of time): evenfall, nightfall, smokefall, vespers; see also Thesaurus:dusk

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “period of time”): dawn, daybreak; see also Thesaurus:dawn

Hypernyms

• (period of time): twilight; see also Thesaurus:twilight

Hyponyms

• astronomical dusk
• civil dusk
• nautical dusk

Derived terms

• dawn to dusk
• dusk-flat
• from dawn to dusk
• from dusk to dawn

 

Translations

period of time at the end of day when sun is below the horizon but before full onset of night

• Arabic: غَسَق m (ḡasaq)
• Armenian: մթնշաղ (hy) (mtʻnšaġ), աղջամուղջ (hy) (aġǰamuġǰ)
• Bashkir: эңер (eñer)
• Bikol Central: sinarom (bcl)
• Bulgarian: здрач (bg) m (zdrač), сумрак (bg) m (sumrak), привечер (bg) f (privečer)
• Catalan: crepuscle (ca) m, capvespre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 黃昏／黄昏 (wong⁴ fan¹)

  Mandarin: 黃昏／黄昏 (zh) (huánghūn), 曫／𬁢 (zh) (luán) (rare)

• Czech: soumrak (cs) m
• Danish: skumring (da) c
• Dutch: schemering (nl) f, avondschemering (nl) f
• Egyptian: (jḫḫw)
• Esperanto: vesperiĝo, vespera krepusko
• Estonian: eha
• Ewe: wɔle
• Finnish: iltahämärä (fi), illansuu
• French: crépuscule (fr) m
• Galician: anoitecer (gl), bocanoite (gl), entre lusco e fusco, crepúsculo (gl) m
• Georgian: მწუხრი (mc̣uxri), დაისი (daisi), ბინდი (bindi), დაბინდება (dabindeba), შებინდება (šebindeba)
• German: Abenddämmerung (de) f
• Hebrew: בֵּין עַרְבַּייִם (he) m (bein arbáim)
• Hungarian: alkony (hu), szürkület (hu), esthajnal (hu)
• Icelandic: ljósaskipti (is) f, húm (is) m, rökkur (is) n
• Indonesian: senja (id), sore (id)
• Ingrian: hämärä, hämärikko
• Irish: coineascar m, clapsholas (ga) m, titim na hoíche f
• Italian: crepuscolo (it) m, tramonto (it) m
• Japanese: 夕暮れ (ja) (yūgure, ゆうぐれ), 黄昏 (ja) (tasogare, たそがれ; kōkon, こうこん)
• Korean: 땅거미 (ko) (ttanggeomi)
• Latgalian: mikrieslis
• Latin: crepusculum n
• Latvian: krēsla (lv) f
• Lithuanian: sutemos f pl
• Macedonian: самрак m (samrak), квечерина f (kvečerina)
• Maguindanao: silam
• Malayalam: സായംസന്ധ്യ (sāyaṁsandhya)
• Maltese: għabex m
• Maori: māpouriki, pōrehurehu
• Navajo: hiłiijį́į́ʼ
• Norwegian: skumring (no) m
• Persian: شامگاه (fa) (šâmgâh)
• Polish: zmierzch (pl) m
• Portuguese: pôr do sol (pt) m, crepúsculo (pt) m, ocaso (pt), anoitecer (pt) m
• Romagnol: imbrunìr m
• Romanian: crepuscul (ro) apus (ro), amurg (ro) n
• Russian: су́мерки (ru) f pl (súmerki)
• Sanskrit: दोषस् (sa) n (doṣas)
• Scottish Gaelic: ciaradh m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: су̏мра̄к m, су́тон m

  Roman: sȕmrāk (sh) m, súton (sh) m

• Spanish: anochecer (es) m, ocaso (es) m, crepúsculo (es) m
• Swedish: skymning (sv) c
• Tagalog: takipsilim (tl)
• Telugu: మునిమాపు వేళ (munimāpu vēḷa), సాయం సంధ్య (sāyaṁ sandhya)
• Ukrainian: су́тінки m pl (sútinky)
• Vietnamese: chạng vạng (vi)
• Volapük: soaralulit (vo)
• Walloon: anuti (wa) f, vesprêye tote basse (wa) f, noer cwårt d' eure m, brune (wa) f, brunete (wa) f
• Welsh: llwydnos f
• Zazaki: tiji perayen

See also

• (times of day) time of day; dawn, morning, noon/midday, afternoon, dusk, evening, night, midnight ^{(Category: en:Times of day)}

Etymology 2

From Middle English dusken, from Old English doxian.

Verb

dusk (third-person singular simple present dusks, present participle dusking, simple past and past participle dusked)

1. (intransitive) To begin to lose light or whiteness; to grow dusk.
   • 1936, Alfred Edward Housman, More Poems‎^[1], XXXIII, lines 25-27:

     I see the air benighted
     And all the dusking dales,
     And lamps in England lighted,

2. (transitive) To make dusk.
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:

     After the sun is up, that shadow which dusketh the light of the Moone must needs be under the earth.

Translations

to grow dusk

• Arabic: يَغْسِق m (yaḡsiq), يَعْتِم m (yaʕtim)
• Bulgarian: смрачава се (smračava se)
• Finnish: hämärtää (fi), hämärtyä (fi) (grow dim), pimetä (fi) (grow dark)
• Georgian: შებინდება (šebindeba)
• Icelandic: rökkva, húma, dimma (is)
• Italian: tramontare (it), crepuscolare (it)
• Latvian: krēslot
• Romanian: însera (ro), amurgi (ro)
• Swedish: skymma (sv)

See also

• “dusk”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• skud

Middle English

Adjective

dusk

1. Alternative form of dosk