Nacht
German
Etymology
From Middle High German nacht, from Old High German naht, from Proto-West Germanic *naht, from Proto-Germanic *nahts, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. Akin to Dutch nacht, English night, Danish nat, Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (nahts).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /naxt/, [naχt], [naxt]
audio (Germany) (file) audio (Germany) (file) audio (Germany) (file) audio (Austria) (file)
Usage notes
- In contemporary German, Nacht is used somewhat differently than English night. Although Nacht can be a general term for the dark hours of the day, when used as a time measurement it refers only to those hours when most ordinary people are in bed (roughly 11 p.m. till 6 a.m.). So while one says in English: “Let's have a beer tonight!”, in German one needs to say: Lass uns heute Abend ein Bier trinken! (“Let's have a beer this evening!”)
- In English, one says in the night or in the day referring to a time of day, but on that night or on that day referring to a date. German, instead, always uses in with Nacht and always uses an with Tag (except when the latter simply means “time, era”, e.g. in jenen Tagen (“in those days”)).
- A (masculine) genitive Nachts occurs only in the phrases des Nachts (“at night”) and eines Nachts (“one night”) and alone as the adverbial genitive Nachts (cp. nachts).
Declension
Derived terms
- Butternacht
- die Nacht zum Tag machen
- Einbruch der Nacht
- Gebnacht
- gute Nacht, gut' Nacht, gut Nacht
- Kristallnacht
- Nacht und Nebel
- nachtaktiv
- nachtblind
- Nachtdienst
- Nachtessen
- Nachteule
- Nachtfalter
- Nachtgleiche
- Nachthemd
- nächtigen
- Nachtjagdflieger
- Nachtjäger
- Nachtleben
- nächtlich
- Nachtlicht
- Nachtmahl
- Nachtmensch
- Nachtmusik
- Nachtquartier
- Nachtreiher
- Nachtruhe
- nachts
- Nachtshopping
- Nachtsichtgerät
- Nachtspeicherheizung
- Nachttisch
- Nachtwache
- Nachtwächter
- Nachtzeit
- Osternacht
- Polarnacht
- Reichskristallnacht
- Tag und Nacht
- Tagundnachtgleiche
- über Nacht
Related terms
See also
(times of day) Tageszeit; Morgendämmerung, Morgen, Vormittag, Mittag, Nachmittag (Frühnachmittag, Spätnachmittag), Abenddämmerung, Abend, Nacht, Mitternacht (Category: de:Times of day)
Further reading
- “Nacht” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “Nacht” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “Nacht” in Duden online
- Nacht on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de
- “Nacht” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
Hunsrik
Alternative forms
- naacht (Wiesemann spelling system)
Etymology
From Old High German naht, from Proto-West Germanic *naht, from Proto-Germanic *nahts (“night”), from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /naxt/
Further reading
Low German
Etymology
From Old Saxon naht, from Proto-West Germanic *naht, from Proto-Germanic *nahts (“night”), from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts (“night”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈnaxt/
Further reading
- Der neue SASS: Plattdeutsches Wörterbuch, Plattdeutsch - Hochdeutsch, Hochdeutsch - Plattdeutsch. Plattdeutsche Rechtschreibung, sixth revised edition (2011, →ISBN, Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster)
Pennsylvania German
Etymology
From Middle High German nacht, from Old High German naht, from Proto-West Germanic *naht, from Proto-Germanic *nahts, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. Compare German Nacht, Dutch nacht, English night.