Wiktionary

equinox

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English equinox, equynox, from Old French equinoce (French équinoxe), from Medieval Latin equinoxium, from Latin aequinoctium, from aequus (“equal”) + nox (“night”). Displaced native Old English efnniht (Modern English evennight).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

equinox (plural equinoxes or equinoctes)

  1. (astronomy) The intersection of the apparent path of the sun in the sky (the ecliptic) with the celestial equator.
  2. One of the two days on which this intersection occurs each year: (for the Northern hemisphere) March 20 or 21 in the spring and September 22 or 23 in the autumn.
    • 2005, Clive L. N. Ruggles, Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies and Myth:
      Since it gets light before the sun rises and remains light after the sun sets, the actual period of darkness at the equinox will be substantially less than twelve hours, the exact amount depending on latitude and how one defines the boundary between twilight and night.
  3. An equinoctial gale.
    • 1687, John Dryden, The Hind and the Panther
      No more than usual Equinoxes blew.
    • 1899, Rudyard Kipling, Stalky & Co.
      The Equinox drove the sand into their faces or round their legs, as they dived among the sheep-haunted hollows.

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DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

Borrowed from French équinoxe, from Latin aequinoctium.

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˌeː.k(ʋ)iˈnɔks/
  • Hyphenation: equi‧nox
  • Rhymes: -ɔks

NounEdit

equinox m (plural equinoxen)

  1. equinox
    Synonyms: dag-en-nachtevening, equinoctium, nachtevening

Derived termsEdit

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