Meanings
plural noctules
- A bat, of the genus Nyctalus, that lives in tree hollows.
We were all still growing used to the night-time, the blue-veined hours of morning that lay only lightly, the white spiders and noctule bats.
2019, Julia Armfield, “The Great Awake”, in Salt Slow, Picador, page 25
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*nókʷts
- Latinnox“night”
- Classical Latinnoctua“night-owl”
- Late Latinnoctula
- Italiannottola
- Frenchnoctule
- Englishnoctule
Borrowed from French noctule, a latinised scientific borrowing of the Italian nottola (refers to various birds or bats), inherited from Late Latin noctula, diminutive of Classical Latin noctua (“night-owl”), ultimately from Latin nox (“night”), from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. Per the OED, first attested in English in 1771.
More words from French, Italian, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque gau-saguzar
- gau-saguzarbat of the genus Nyctalus
Bulgarian вечерник
- вечерник (večernik)bat of the genus Nyctalus
Catalan nòctul
- nòctulbat of the genus Nyctalus
Chinese Cantonese 山蝠, 夜蝠
- 山蝠 (saan¹ fuk¹)bat of the genus Nyctalus
- 夜蝠 (je⁶ fuk¹)bat of the genus Nyctalus
Chinese Mandarin 山蝠, 夜蝠
- 山蝠 (shānfú)bat of the genus Nyctalus
- 夜蝠 (yèfú)bat of the genus Nyctalus
Dutch vroegvlieger
- vroegvliegerbat of the genus Nyctalus
Estonian videvlane
- videvlanebat of the genus Nyctalus
Finnish isolepakko
- isolepakkobat of the genus Nyctalus
French noctule
- noctulebat of the genus Nyctalus
German Abendsegler
- Abendseglerbat of the genus Nyctalus
Hungarian koraidenevér
- koraidenevérbat of the genus Nyctalus
Italian nottola
- nottolabat of the genus Nyctalus
Japanese 山蝙蝠, ヤマコウモリ
- 山蝙蝠 (yamakōmori)bat of the genus Nyctalus
- ヤマコウモリ (yamakōmori)bat of the genus Nyctalus
Korean 멧박쥐
- 멧박쥐 (metbakjwi)bat of the genus Nyctalus
Lithuanian nakviša
- nakvišabat of the genus Nyctalus
Norwegian Bokmål storflaggermus
- storflaggermusbat of the genus Nyctalus
Persian خفاش جنگلی
- خفاش جنگلی (xoffâš jangali)bat of the genus Nyctalus
Polish borowiec
- borowiecbat of the genus Nyctalus
Portuguese morcego-arborícola, morcego arborícola
- morcego-arborícolabat of the genus Nyctalus
- morcego arborícolabat of the genus Nyctalus
Russian вече́рница
- вече́рница (večérnica)bat of the genus Nyctalus
Slovak raniak
- raniakbat of the genus Nyctalus
Spanish nóctulo
- nóctulobat of the genus Nyctalus
Swedish brunfladdermus
- brunfladdermusbat of the genus Nyctalus
Thai ค้างคาวกินแมลง
- ค้างคาวกินแมลง (káang-kaao gin má-lɛɛng)bat of the genus Nyctalus
Ukrainian вечі́рниця
- вечі́рниця (večírnycja)bat of the genus Nyctalus
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
noctule. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/noctule
“noctule.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/noctule. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “noctule,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/noctule.
Source: noctule on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.