midnight

Meanings

Noun

• The middle of the night: the sixth temporal hour, equidistant between sunset and sunrise.
• Twelve o'clock at night exactly.
• boxcars

Adjective

• Utterly dark or black.

Origin

• From Middle English midnight, from Old English midniht, from Proto-Germanic *midjanahts, equivalent to mid- + night. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Midnoacht, Old High German mittinaht, Danish midnat, Swedish midnatt, Icelandic miðnætti. Compare also Saterland Frisian Middernoacht, Dutch middernacht, German Mitternacht.