Meanings
plural midnights
- countableuncountableThe middle of the night: the sixth temporal hour, equidistant between sunset and sunrise.
Thanks to its sonar, the narwhal can remain active even at midnight, unhindered by the darkness.
2 more examples
And he [Jesus] ſayde vnto thẽ [them]: which of you ſhall have a frende and ſhall goo to hym att mydnyght⸝ and ſaye vnto hym: frende lende me foure loves for a frende of myne is come out off the waye to me⸝ and I have nothynge to ſett before hĩ [him]⸝ And he within ſhall andſwer and ſaye: Trouble me nott⸝ nowe is the doore ſhett⸝ and my ſervaunttꝭ [servaunttis, i.e., servants] are with me in the chamber⸝ I cannot ryſe and geve thẽ to the [them to thee]. I ſaye vnto you: though he woll not aryſe and geve hym⸝ becauſe he is his frende: Yet becauſe of hys importunitie he woll ryſe and geve him as many as he nedeth.
1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Gospell off S. Luke xj:[5–8], folio xciiij, rectoAnd vpon the first day of the weeke, when the disciples came together to breake bread, Paul preached vnto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speach vntill midnight.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 20:7 - countableuncountableTwelve o'clock at night exactly.
The police report said that officers, who told CNN they are not currently pursuing criminal charges, arrived to the scene just after midnight and found Gillum and a second person, Aldo Mejias, in the hotel room.
2020 March 13, Oliver Darcy, “Andrew Gillum apologizes after being found ‘inebriated’ in hotel room where police say man was treated for ‘possible drug overdose’”, in CNN Business1 more example
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good! / She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood! / They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years, / Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, / Cold, on the stroke of midnight, / The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 2, stanza IV, pages 50–51
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe middle of the night: the sixth temporal hour, equidistant between sunset and sunrise.
nounSynonym of boxcars (“a pair of sixes”).
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*midjanahts“midnight”
- Old Englishmidniht
- Middle Englishmidnight
- Englishmidnight
From Middle English midnight, from Old English midniht, from Proto-Germanic *midjanahts (“midnight”), equivalent to mid- + night. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Midnoacht (“midnight”), Old High German mittinaht (“midnight”), Danish midnat (“midnight”), Swedish midnatt (“midnight”), Icelandic miðnætti (“midnight”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Middernoacht (“midnight”), Dutch middernacht (“midnight”), German Mitternacht (“midnight”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans middernag
- middernag12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Ancient Greek μεσονύκτιον, μεσονύκτιον
- μεσονύκτιον (mesonúktion)middle of the night
- μεσονύκτιον (mesonúktion)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Arabic مُنْتَصَف لَيْل, مُنْتَصَف اللَّيْل
- مُنْتَصَف لَيْل (muntaṣaf layl)middle of the night
- مُنْتَصَف اللَّيْل (muntaṣaf al-layl)middle of the night
- مُنْتَصَف اَللَّيْل (muntaṣaf al-layl)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Basque gauerdi
- gauerdi12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Bengali মধ্যরাত
- মধ্যরাত (moddhorat)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Bulgarian средно́щ, полуно́щ
- средно́щ (srednóšt)middle of the night
- полуно́щ (polunóšt)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Catalan mitjanit, mitjanit
- mitjanitmiddle of the night
- mitjanit12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Chinese Mandarin 三更, 夜半
- 三更middle of the night
- 夜半 (yèbàn)middle of the night
- 夜半三更 (yèbànsāngēng)middle of the night
- 三更半夜middle of the night
- 黑更半夜middle of the night
- 半夜三更middle of the night
- 半夜 (bànyè)middle of the night
- 半夜 (bànyè)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- 子夜 (zǐyè)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- 午夜 (wǔyè)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Czech půlnoc
- půlnoc12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Danish midnat
- midnat12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Dutch middernacht
- middernacht12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Esperanto noktmezo, noktomezo
- noktmezomiddle of the night
- noktomezomiddle of the night
- noktmezo12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- noktomezo12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Estonian kesköö
- kesköö12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Finnish keskiyö, keskiyö
- keskiyömiddle of the night
- keskiyö12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- puoliyö12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
French minuit, minuit
- minuitmiddle of the night
- minuit12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
German Mitternacht, Mitternacht
- Mitternachtmiddle of the night
- Mitternacht12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Greek μεσάνυχτα, μεσάνυχτα
- μεσάνυχτα (mesánychta)middle of the night
- μεσάνυχτα (mesánychta)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Hawaiian aumoe, ʻauinapō
- aumoe12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- ʻauinapō12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Hebrew חֲצוֹת הַלַּיְלָה, חֲצוֹת
- חֲצוֹת הַלַּיְלָה (khatsòt-haláyla)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- חֲצוֹת (khatsót)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Hindi आधी रात, आधीरात
- आधी रात (ādhī rāt)middle of the night
- आधीरात (ādhīrāt)middle of the night
- अधरात (adhrāt)middle of the night
- मध्यरात (madhyarāt)middle of the night
- मध्यरात्रि (madhyarātri)middle of the night
- आधी रात (ādhī rāt)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- आधीरात (ādhīrāt)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- अधरात (adhrāt)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- मध्यरात (madhyarāt)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- मध्यरात्रि (madhyarātri)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Hungarian éjfél, éjfél
- éjfélmiddle of the night
- éjfél12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Icelandic miðnætti, lágnætti
- miðnætti12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- lágnætti12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Indonesian tengah malam
- tengah malam12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Irish meán oíche
- meán oíche12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Italian mezzanotte, mezzanotte
- mezzanottemiddle of the night
- mezzanotte12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Japanese 夜半, 真夜中
- 夜半 (yahan)middle of the night
- 真夜中 (mayonaka)middle of the night
- 子夜 (shiya)middle of the night
- 夜半 (yahan)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- 真夜中 (mayonaka)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- 子夜 (shiya)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- 正子 (shōshi)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Korean 한밤중, 한밤
- 한밤중 (hanbamjung)middle of the night
- 한밤 (hanbam)middle of the night
- 야밤 (yabam)middle of the night
- 밤중 (bamjung)middle of the night
- 반야 (banya)middle of the night
- 심야 (simya)middle of the night
- 자정 (jajeong)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- 밤 열두시 (bam yeoldu-si)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- 밤 12시 (bam 12-si)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Latin media nox, intempestum
- media noxmiddle of the night
- intempestummiddle of the night
- media nox12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- intempestum12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Latvian pusnakts
- pusnakts12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Lithuanian vidurnaktis
- vidurnaktis12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Malay tengah malam
- tengah malam12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Māori waenganui pō, tūruawē pō
- waenganui pōmiddle of the night
- tūruawē pōmiddle of the night
- weherua12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- weherua pō12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Norwegian Bokmål midnatt
- midnatt12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Polish północ
- północ12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Portuguese meia-noite
- meia-noite12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Romanian miezul nopții, miez de noapte
- miezul nopții12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- miez de noapte12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- mijloc de noapte12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- мезул нопций (mezul nopții)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Russian по́лночь, по́лночь
- по́лночь (pólnočʹ)middle of the night
- по́лночь (pólnočʹ)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Scottish Gaelic meadhan-oidhche
- meadhan-oidhche12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Slovak polnoc
- polnoc12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Spanish medianoche, madrugada
- medianochemiddle of the night
- madrugadamiddle of the night
- medianoche12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Swedish midnatt
- midnatt12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Tagalog hatinggabi, hatinggabi
- hatinggabimiddle of the night
- hatinggabi12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Tamil நள்ளிரவு, நடுநாள்
- நள்ளிரவு (naḷḷiravu)middle of the night
- நடுநாள் (naṭunāḷ)middle of the night
- நடுராத்திரி (naṭurāttiri)middle of the night
- நள்ளிரவு (naḷḷiravu)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Thai เที่ยงคืน
- เที่ยงคืน (tîiang-kʉʉn)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Turkish gece yarısı, gece yarısı
- gece yarısımiddle of the night
- gece yarısı12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Ukrainian пі́вніч
- пі́вніч (pívnič)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Urdu آدھی رات, آدھی رات
- آدھی رات (ādhī rāt)middle of the night
- آدھی رات (ādhī rāt)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- نِصْفِ شَب (nisf-i śab)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Vietnamese nửa đêm, đêm
- nửa đêm12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- đêm12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Welsh hanner nos, canol nos
- hanner nosmiddle of the night
- canol nosmiddle of the night
- canol nos12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
- hanner nos12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Yiddish האַלבע נאַכט
- האַלבע נאַכט (halbe nakht)12 o'clock at night exactly — see also twelve o'clock
Cite this entry
midnight. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midnight
“midnight.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midnight. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “midnight,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midnight.
Source: midnight on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.