tonight

Pronunciation

• IPA: /təˈnaɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English to night,^[2][3] inherited from Old English tō niht (“at night; on the night following”),^[2][4][3] from Old English tō (“at, on”) + niht (“night”),^[3][2][5] the dative of niht.^[3] It is formed like today and tomorrow.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English tōniht, “on the night following this day”, is from about 1000.^[3][7] “On this very night”, the night now present, is from before 1300, in Cursor Mundi (before 1325).^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word could also mean “last night”, a sense recorded from about 1205 and now obsolete except in dialect.^[7] As a noun, “this night”, it is from the early 14th century.^[4][3] It was regularly written as two words until the 18th century, then with a hyphen as to-night until the early 20th century.^[4][3]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – on the night following this day.^[3][7]
• c. 1205 – last night (obsolete).^[7]
• before 1325 – on this very night; noun, this night.^[3]
• 18th century – written to-night.^[4]
• early 20th century – written tonight.^[4][3]

Modern meaning

Adverb

1. On or during the present or coming night.

Noun

1. This night, or the night after this day.

Related words

• today
• tomorrow
• night
• tonite

Usage notes

The spelling tonite is an informal variant.^[8]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press