Etymologically
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daylight

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈdeɪlaɪt/ (UK); /ˈdeɪˌlaɪt/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is a compound, from English day + light,[2][3][4] in older forms with the genitive of day (Etymonline's daies liht, mid-12th century).[2][3] Compare Middle Low German dāgeslicht, German Tageslicht and Old Norse dagsljós.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The light of day: Old English, in Ælfric's Lives of Saints;[2] Etymonline dates the one-word form to about 1300.[3]

Semantic evolution

Daylight also meant the time of day and the dawn from Old English on.[2] Figuratively it stood for full knowledge or openness to public view from 1530, in Tyndale.[2] A visible gap between two things is from 1775 in the OED and by 1820 in Etymonline,[2][3] and Etymonline lists its uses for boats in a race, a running back slipping tackles, and a rider and saddle;[3] an earlier drinkers' use was the gap between the liquor and the brim, not allowed when drinking a toast (1754).[2][5] A difference or distinction between two people or positions is from 1849.[2] Slang daylights were the eyes from about 1747, as in darken someone's daylights (1752), later extended to the vital senses, as in the daylights one beats or scares out of someone.[2][3] Daylight saving is from 1908, after a British bill of that year.[3]

Timeline

  • Old English – the light of day; daytime.[2]
  • 1530 – figurative, knowledge, openness.[2]
  • c. 1747 – daylights, the eyes (slang).[2]
  • 1754 – the gap below a glass's brim.[2]
  • 1775 – a visible gap between things.[2]
  • 1849 – a perceptible difference.[2]
  • 1908 – daylight saving.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The natural light of the sun during the day.
  2. Daytime; also, dawn.
  3. A visible gap or space between two things, or a clear difference between positions.
  4. daylights (informal): one's wits or senses, in beat or scare the living daylights out of.

Word family

  • predaylight
  • daylight saving
  • daylight saving time

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com