Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Dec 4, 2020
This week’s theme
Illustrated words

This week’s words
yeanling
ursiform
leptodactylous
zaftig
noctilucent

noctilucent
Illustration: Leah Palmer Preiss

This week’s comments
AWADmail 962

Next week’s theme
Metal words
Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

noctilucent

PRONUNCIATION:
(nok-tuh-LOO-suhnt)

MEANING:
adjective: Shining at night.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin nocti- (night) + lucent (shining). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leuk- (light), which also gave us lunar, lunatic, light, lightning, lucid, illuminate, illustrate, translucent, lux, lynx, pellucid, lutestring, lustrate, lucubrate, limn, and lea. Earliest documented use: 1691.

USAGE:
“But it was the noctilucent clouds that made the deepest impression on [Samantha Cristoforetti] -- wispy clouds that form high in the atmosphere and that the sun illuminates from below.”
Guy Chazan; “We Could Be Gone and the Earth Would Keep on Moving”; Financial Times (London, UK); Aug 29, 2020.

See more usage examples of noctilucent in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Is there any religion whose followers can be pointed to as distinctly more amiable and trustworthy than those of any other? If so, this should be enough. I find the nicest and best people generally profess no religion at all, but are ready to like the best men of all religions. -Samuel Butler, writer (4 Dec 1835-1902)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith