Etymology

sunlight

sun·light
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Today it means: All the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun; especially, that in the visible spectrum and that bathes the Earth. Full definition →

Middle English sonnelight ← Old English sunnan lēoht
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromsunnan lēoht“sunlight”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromsonnelight
  3. English todaysunlight

From Middle English sonnelight, sunneliht, from Old English sunnan lēoht (“sunlight”), equivalent to sun + light. Cognate with Dutch zonlicht (“sunlight”), German Low German Sünnenlücht (“sunlight”), German Sonnenlicht (“sunlight”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.