different between nocturnal vs nighttime

English

Etymology

From Middle French nocturnal, from Latin nocturnus (“nocturnal, nightly”), from Latin nox (“night”), from Proto-Indo-European *nók?ts (“night”). Cognates include Ancient Greek ??? (núx), Sanskrit ????? (nákti), Old English niht (English night) and Proto-Slavic *no??.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /n?k?t??(?)n?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /n?k?t?n?l/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n?l

Adjective

nocturnal (comparative more nocturnal, superlative most nocturnal)

1. (of a person, creature, group, or species) Primarily active during the night.

2. (of an occurrence) Taking place at night, nightly.

Antonyms

• diurnal

Coordinate terms

• crepuscular

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

nocturnal (plural nocturnals)

1. A person or creature that is active at night.
2. (historical) A device for telling the time at night, rather like a sundial but read according to the stars.

   Synonym: star clock

   • 2015, David Wootton, The Invention of Science, Penguin 2016, p. 188:

     A rather different instrument was the nocturnal: it enabled you to tell the time at night, provided you knew the date, from the position of the stars in the constellation of the Great Bear, which rotate around the Pole Star.

Old French

Adjective

nocturnal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular nocturnale)

1. nocturnal

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (nocturnal)

English

Alternative forms

• night-time

Etymology

From Middle English nyght tyme, ny?ttyme, equivalent to night +? time. Compare Dutch nachttijd, German Nachtzeit, Danish nattetid, Swedish nattetid. Compare also Middle English ny?ter tyme (“nighttime”), from Old Norse náttartími, nætrtími (“nighttime”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?na?t?ta?m/, [?na??ta?m]

Noun

nighttime (countable and uncountable, plural nighttimes)

1. The hours of darkness between sunset and sunrise; the night.

Synonyms

• nightertale, nighttide; see also Thesaurus:nighttime

Antonyms

• day, daytime; see also Thesaurus:daytime

Derived terms

• night-times

Translations

Adjective

nighttime (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to nighttime; appropriate to the night.
2. Happening during the night.

Synonyms

• (pertaining to nighttime): night
• (happening during the night): night, nocturnal

Antonyms

• (pertaining to nighttime): day, daytime
• (happening during the night): daytime, diurnal

Translations