night (English)

Where does "night" come from?

The English noun 'night' descends from Middle English 'nighte'[1], which developed from Old English 'niht'[1]. This Old English term continues Proto-West Germanic '*naht'[1], which grew out of Proto-Germanic '*nahts'[1]. Ultimately, these Germanic forms trace back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*nókʷts'[1], meaning 'night'.

Open questions

The traditional view treats the ablaut variants of the Proto-Indo-European term as a single paradigm, whereas alternative proposals derive the word from a root meaning bare or naked. [3]

Full etymology tree

night (English), 'The time when the Sun is below the horizon when the sky is dark.'
- inherited nighte (Middle English), 'alternative form of nyght'
  - inherited niht (Old English), 'night'
    - inherited *naht (Proto-West Germanic), 'night'
      - inherited *nahts (Proto-Germanic), 'night'
        inherited *nókʷts (Proto-Indo-European), 'night (or possibly 'evening')'

Ancestors

nighte (Middle English)
niht (Old English)
*naht (Proto-West Germanic)
*nahts (Proto-Germanic)
*nókʷts (Proto-Indo-European)

Cognates and doublets

natë (Albanian)
ноч (Belarusian)
noz (Breton)
нощ (Bulgarian)
nat (Danish)
nacht (Dutch)
nox (English)
nátt (Faroese)
‐ (German)
𐌽𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (Gothic)
νύχτα (Greek)
𒉈𒆪𒊻 (Hittite)

Descendants and derived words

fortnight (English)
nighthawk (English)
nightingale (English)
nightjar (English)
nightmare (English)
all cats are gray at night (English)
all cats are grey at night (English)
all cats are grey by night (English)
all night (English)
all-night (English)
all-nighter (English)
allnighter (English)

Related words

star (English)

Sources

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris