Evening is the period of a
day
A day is the time rotation period, period of a full Earth's rotation, rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours (86,400 seconds). As a day passes at a given location it experiences morning, afternoon, evening, ...
that begins at the end of
daylight
Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunlig ...
and overlaps with the beginning of
night.
It generally indicates the period of time when the sun is close to the horizon and comprises the periods of civil, nautical and astronomical
twilight. The exact times when evening begins and ends are subjective and depend on location and time of year. It may be used colloquially to include the last waning
daytime
Daytime or day as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences Daylight, natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the ...
shortly before
sunset.
Etymology
The word is derived from the
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
''ǣfnung'', meaning 'the coming of evening, sunset, time around sunset', which originated from ''æfnian'', meaning "become evening, grow toward evening". The Old English ''æfnian'' originated from ''æfen'' (eve), which meant "the time between sunset and darkness", and was synonymous with even (Old English ''æfen''), which meant the end of the day. The use of "evening" dates from the mid 15th century.
Start time
The ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'' defines evening as varying according to daylight and lifestyle, but says that many people consider it to begin at 5 p.m.
In a social context, the
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
defines evening as "the time from about 6 p.m., or sunset if earlier".
As such, there is no fixed consensus on when the period of evening starts.
Astronomy
Despite the less favorable lighting conditions for
optical astronomy, evening can be useful for observing objects
orbiting close to the Sun. Evening (and morning) serves as the optimum time for viewing the
inferior planets Venus and
Mercury. It is a popular time to hunt for
comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
s, as their
tails grow more prominent as these objects draw closer to the Sun. The evening (and morning) twilight is used to search for
near-Earth asteroids that orbit inside the orbit of the Earth. In
mid-latitudes, spring evenings around the time of the
equinox―that is,
the March one in the
Northern Hemisphere and the
September equinox to the
south of the equator―are favorable for viewing the
zodiacal light.
See also
*
Crepuscular
In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...
– Animals that are active primarily in the early morning and the evening.
*
Dusk
*
Evening dress (disambiguation)
*
Sunset
*
Eve of a feast or
vigil
References
External links
*
*
Parts of a day
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