Etymologically
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nocturnal

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /nɒkˈtɜː.nəl/[1]
  • US: /nɑkˈtɝ.nəl/, /nɒkˈtɝ.nəl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin nocturnālis (“of the night”),[2][3][4][5] a word recorded from the 5th century;[2] Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster also allow a borrowing from Middle French nocturnal.[6][7][8] The OED compares Anglo-Norman and Old French nocturnel and nocturnal, and notes that modern French nocturnal is apparently a late 18th-century reborrowing.[2] The Latin adjective is formed from nocturnus (“belonging to the night”) and -ālis,[2][8] and nocturnus from nox (“night”) with -urnus, a suffix of adjectives of time.[7][9] The Latin noun is cognate with Old English neaht, the source of night,[7] and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *nekʷ-t- (“night”).[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the night, done or held at night: 1485, in Caxton's translation of the Lyf of Saint Wenefryde, in the phrase nocturnal office.[2][6][7] The OED compares post-classical Latin nocturnale officium.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word was used of animals active chiefly at night from 1599,[2] of people active at night from 1679, in Aphra Behn,[2] and of eyes adapted to night vision from 1840.[2] Johnson (1755) glossed it simply as "nightly", quoting Dryden.[11] Nocturnal emission, an involuntary ejaculation in sleep, is recorded by 1813.[7][4] As a noun it named, from 1582, a mainly nautical instrument for telling the time at night from the stars, after German Nocturnal;[2][8] a night piece from 1607, in Marston;[2] and a person out at night, especially for a criminal purpose, from 1693.[2][8] The OED also records the variant noctural, perhaps remodelled after natural.[2]

Timeline

  • 1485 – of or relating to the night, in Caxton.[2][6]
  • 1582 – noun, an instrument for telling the time at night.[2]
  • 1599 – of animals, active chiefly at night.[2]
  • 1607 – noun, a night piece.[2]
  • 1679 – of a person, active at night.[2]
  • 1693 – noun, a person out at night.[2]
  • 1813 – nocturnal emission.[7]
  • 1840 – of an eye, adapted for night vision.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to, happening or done at night: nocturnal noises from the attic.[5][8][2]
  2. Of animals, active mainly at night; compare diurnal.[5][8][2]
  3. Of plants, having flowers that open at night and close by day.[5][8]
  4. Of a person, active at night or preferring to be.[2]

Noun

  1. (historical) An astrolabe-like instrument for finding the time or the latitude at night from the stars.[8][2]
  2. A night piece.[8][2]
  3. One who is out or active at night; a nightwalker.[8][2]

Word family

  • nocturnally
  • nocturnality
  • seminocturnal
  • nonnocturnal
  • nocturnal arc
  • nocturnal emission
  • night
  • nocturn
  • nocturne
  • diurnal

References

  1. ^ a b 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 q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.