sundial

English

Etymology

From sun +‎ dial, a clarification of dial after it was used for other objects as well.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌnˌdaɪ.əl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

sundial (plural sundials)

1. A device measuring the time of day by the position of a shadow cast by a pole or plate (gnomon) upon an engraved series of marks.

   The birdbath includes a small gnomon that acts as a sundial with markings on the basin if it's aligned correctly with the sun.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there.
     "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."

Synonyms

• dial, horologe, horologium (archaic)

Hyponyms

• (on churches): mass dial, tide dial, scratch dial

Coordinate terms

• sciatheric (adj.); gnomon, style, cock (marker)

Translations

device noting the time of day by the position of a shadow

• Afrikaans: sonwyzer
• Albanian: orë diellore
• Arabic: مِزْوَلَة (mizwala)
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: արեւի ժամացույց (arewi žamacʻuycʻ)
• Assamese: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: reló de Sol m
• Azerbaijani: günəş saatı
• Basque: eguzki erloju
• Belarusian: со́нечныя гадзі́ны f pl (sónječnyja hadzíny)
• Bengali: সূর্যঘড়ি (bn) (śurjoghoṛi)
• Breton: horolaj-heol m
• Bulgarian: слъ́нчев часо́вник m (slǎ́nčev časóvnik)
• Burmese: နေ နာရီ c (ne nari)
• Catalan: rellotge de sol m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 日晷 (zh) (rìguǐ), 日規／日规 (zh) (rìguī)

• Corsican: meridiana f, miridiana f
• Czech: sluneční hodiny (cs) f pl
• Danish: solur (da) n
• Dutch: zonnewijzer (nl) m
• Emilian: please add this translation if you can
• Esperanto: sunhorloĝo
• Estonian: päikesekell
• Extremaduran: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: sólur n
• Finnish: aurinkokello (fi)
• French: cadran solaire (fr) m
• Galician: reloxo de sol (gl) m
• Georgian: მზის საათი (mzis saati)
• German: Sonnenuhr (de) f
• Greek: ηλιακό ρολόι (el) n (iliakó rolói)
• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: שעון שמש (he) m (sh'ón shémesh)
• Hindi: सौर घड़ी f (saur ghaṛī)
• Hungarian: napóra (hu)
• Icelandic: sólúr n
• Ido: sunohorlojo (io)
• Indonesian: jam matahari
• Irish: clog gréine m
• Italian: meridiana (it) f, orologio solare, gnomone (it) m, eliotropio (it) m
• Japanese: 日時計 (ja) (ひどけい, 日時計, hidokei)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: күн сағаттары (kün sağattary)
• Khmer: នាឡិកាព្រះអាទិត្យ (niele’kaa preah aatɨt)
• Korean: 해시계 (haesigye)
• Lao: ນາລິກາແດດ (nā li kā dǣt)
• Latin: sōlārium hōrologium n, sōlārium (la) n
• Latvian: saules pulkstenis m
• Leonese: please add this translation if you can
• Ligurian: relêuio a sô m
• Lithuanian: saulės laikrodis m
• Lombard: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: сончев часовник m (sončev časovnik)
• Malay: jam matahari
• Malayalam: സൂര്യഘടികാരം (ml) (sūryaghaṭikāraṁ)
• Maori: karaka ātārangi
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Neapolitan: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: solur n

  Nynorsk: solur n

• Occitan: mòstra (oc) de (oc) solelh (oc) f
• Odia: please add this translation if you can
• Old English: sōlmerca m, dæġmǣl
• Ottoman Turkish: گونش ساعتی (güneş saʾati)
• Persian: ساعت آفتابی (fa) (sâ'at-e âftâbi)
• Piedmontese: please add this translation if you can
• Plautdietsch: Sonnenklock f
• Polish: zegar słoneczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: relógio de sol (pt) m, relógio do sol m, relógio solar (pt) m, solário (pt) m
• Romagnol: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: ceas solar (ro) n, cadran solar (ro) n
• Russian: со́лнечные часы́ (ru) m pl (sólnečnyje časý)
• Scottish Gaelic: uaireadair-grèine m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сунчаник m, сунчани сат m (Croatia), сунчани часовник m (Bosnia, Serbia)

  Roman: sunčanik (sh) m, sunčani sat m (Croatia), sunčani časovnik m (Bosnia, Serbia)

• Sicilian: miridiana f
• Slovak: slnečné hodiny f pl
• Slovene: sónčna úra (sl) f
• Spanish: reloj solar m, reloj de sol m
• Swahili: bonyeza (sw)
• Swedish: solur n
• Tagalog: oras-araw, kuwadrante
• Tamil: சூரிய மணிகாட்டி (cūriya maṇikāṭṭi)
• Telugu: నీడగడియారము (nīḍagaḍiyāramu), సూర్యఘంట (sūryaghaṇṭa)
• Thai: นาฬิกาแดด (th) (naa-lí-gaa-dɛ̀ɛt)
• Turkish: güneş saati (tr)
• Ukrainian: со́нячний годи́нник m (sónjačnyj hodýnnyk)
• Vietnamese: đồng hồ mặt trời
• Volapük: solaglok
• Walloon: cwadran solaire
• Welsh: deial haul m
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

Anagrams

• dunsail