Etymologically
Log in

dawn

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 05:20. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dɔːn/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

The verb is a back-formation from dawning, inherited from Middle English dauing, dawninge,[2][3][4][5] which replaced inherited from Old English dagung, from dagian (“to become day”), from the root of dæg (“day”) (see day);[2][3][4] the -n- probably came from a Scandinavian source, compare Danish dagning.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, to begin to grow light: 1499 in Barnhart and the OED, late 15th century in NODE;[2][6][7] Etymonline traces the shorter dauen to about 1200.[4] The noun dawning is from about 1250.[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun dawn, the first light of the morning, is from 1599, the 1590s in Etymonline;[6][4][2] before it, Middle English used day-gleam, dayspring and dawning.[4] The figurative sense, a beginning or first appearance, is from 1633.[6][4] The verb in the figurative sense, to begin to develop, is from 1717,[6] and to begin to be understood, as in it dawned on me, follows.[8][9] As a girl's name Dawn was little used in the US before 1920 but was among the top 25 names for girls born 1966–1975.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – dawning.[2]
  • 1499 – the verb.[2][6]
  • 1599 – the noun.[6][2]
  • 1633 – a beginning.[6][4]
  • 1717 – to begin to develop.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The time each morning when daylight first appears; daybreak or sunrise.
  2. The beginning of something: the dawn of civilization.

Verb

  1. To begin to grow light in the morning.
  2. To begin to appear or develop.
  3. To begin to be understood, usually with on: it dawned on him.

Word family

  • dawnlike
  • predawn
  • crack of dawn
  • dawn patrol
  • false dawn
  • dawning
  • day
  • daybreak

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins