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Added 9 October 2026

midnight

/ˈmɪd(ˌ)naɪt/ noun

Categories: TimeUncommon Words

In Latin: intempestum Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about midnight at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. The middle of the night: the sixth temporal hour, equidistant between sunset and sunrise.
    Thanks to its sonar, the narwhal can remain active even at midnight, unhindered by the darkness.
  2. Twelve o'clock at night exactly.
  3. Synonym of boxcars (“a pair of sixes”).

adjective

  1. Utterly dark or black.

Origin

From Middle English midnight, from Old English midniht, from Proto-Germanic *midjanahts (“midnight”), equivalent to mid- + night. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Midnoacht (“midnight”), Old High German mittinaht (“midnight”), Danish midnat (“midnight”), Swedish midnatt (“midnight”), Icelandic miðnætti (“midnight”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Middernoacht (“midnight”), Dutch middernacht (“midnight”), German Mitternacht (“midnight”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Related Words: nooneveningnightmiddlemidnorthtwelveabyssmarinemarinomid-

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