νύξ (Ancient Greek)

Where does "νύξ" come from?

The Ancient Greek noun 'νύξ' meaning 'night' descends from Proto-Hellenic '*nukts', which in turn traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*nókʷts' meaning 'night'[1]. This ancient term shares deep historical connections with numerous cognates across the Indo-European language family, including Latin 'nox', Sanskrit 'nákti', Old Church Slavonic 'нощь', Albanian 'natë', and English 'night'.

Open questions

• Some scholars argue the word derives from '*negʷ-' meaning 'bare' or 'naked' rather than viewing the variants simply as traditional ablaut forms. [2]

Full etymology tree

• νύξ (Ancient Greek), 'night'
  • inherited *nukts (Proto-Hellenic)
    • inherited *nókʷts (Proto-Indo-European), 'night (or possibly 'evening')'

Ancestors

• *nókʷts (Proto-Indo-European)

Cognates and doublets

• night (English)
• nox (Latin)
• niht (Old English)
• नक्ति (Sanskrit)

Descendants and derived words

• νύκτα (Greek)
• νύχτα (Greek)
• νιούτθα (Tsakonian)

Sources

1. νύξ (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
2. nókʷts (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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