nightjar (English)

Where does "nightjar" come from?

The English noun 'nightjar' is a compound word formed from 'night' and 'jar', meaning a discordant sound, which was applied to the bird due to its harsh call[1]. The element 'night' has an ancient lineage, descending through Middle English and Old English forms like 'niht', from Proto-Germanic 'nahts', and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European '*nókʷts'[2].

Open questions

The Proto-Indo-European term for night may derive from a root meaning bare or naked, though scholars differ on whether the forms represent ablaut variants or originally separate root nouns. [7]

Full etymology tree

nightjar (English), 'Any of various medium-sized nocturnal birds, of the family Caprimulgidae from the order Caprimulgiformes, that feed predominantly on moths and other large flying insects.'
- compound night (English), 'The time when the Sun is below the horizon when the sky is dark.'
  - inherited nyght (Middle English), 'night'
    - inherited niht (Old English), 'night'
      - inherited *naht (Proto-West Germanic), 'night'
        inherited *nahts (Proto-Germanic), 'night'
        inherited *nókˈwts (Proto-Indo-European)
- compound jar (English), 'An earthenware container, either with two or no handles, for holding oil, water, wine, etc., or used for burial.'
  - inherited jarre (Middle English)
    - borrowed جرة (jarra) (Arabic), 'jar, amphora, olla'

Ancestors

night (English)
jar (English)

Descendants and derived words

Eurasian nightjar (English)
Indian nightjar (English)
owlet-nightjar (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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