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nuit

Etymology and origin of the French word nuit

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
late 10th century, Passion de Clermont
Inherited from
Latin nox via Old French
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*nókʷts)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nox
French nuit

Pronunciation

  • IPA (France): /nɥi/[1]
  • IPA (Belgium): /nwi/[1]
  • IPA (Quebec, informal): /nɥit/[1]

Forms

nuit f (plural nuits)[1] Old French noit (about 980), then nuit (1050) and the Latinizing spelling nuict.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French noit, inherited from Latin nox (“night; rest; darkness; death”) (accusative “noctem”), from Proto-Italic *nok⁽ʷ⁾ts, from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts.[4][2][1][5] The Indo-European word is also seen in Ancient Greek νύξ (núx), German Nacht, English night and Old Church Slavonic нощь (noštĭ).[2][6]

Cognate with Romanian noapte, Italian notte, Old Occitan nuech, Catalan nit, Spanish noche and Portuguese noite.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Passion de Clermont (late 10th century), la noit, the time between sunset and sunrise; the same text uses it for darkness.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Nuit is paired with jour in noit e di (10th century), nuit e jor (about 1170) and, the other way round, jour et nuit (1538).[4][2] De nuit “by night” is found in 1160–1174, travailler de nuit in 1510, passer la nuit in 1606 and passer une nuit blanche in 1774 (Mme du Deffand).[4][2] The compounds chemise de nuit (1632), table de nuit (1730) and vase de nuit (about 1820) followed.[2]

In Old French the word could also mean the evening, as English tonight still does; classical French used it for a night of love (1655), and since 1868–1874 it has meant the price of a night at a hotel.[2][4] Figuratively it stands for death (la nuit du tombeau, 1604), blindness and ignorance (1611) and remote time (la nuit des temps, 1682).[4]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Noit in the Passion de Clermont.[4]
  • c. 1050 – The form nuit in the Vie de saint Alexis.[4]
  • 1160–1174 – De noit “by night”, in Wace.[4]
  • 1604 – La nuict du tombeau “death”.[4]
  • 1632 – Chemise de nuit.[2]
  • 1682 – La nuit des temps in La Fontaine.[4]
  • 1774 – Passer une nuit blanche.[4]
  • 1874 – The price of a night at a hotel.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Night, the time between sunset and sunrise: la nuit tombe, bonne nuit.[6][1]
  2. Darkness: Il fait nuit.[6][4]
  3. De nuit: at night: travailler de nuit.[4][2]
  4. Nuit blanche: a sleepless night.[4]
  5. A night's stay; its price at a hotel.[4][2]
  6. (figurative) Darkness, ignorance, death: la nuit des temps.[4]

Word family

  • nuitée
  • minuit
  • nuisette
  • nocturne
  • Latin nox

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 212b
  6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Nuit.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/nuit. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·