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Added 9 October 2026

dawn

/dɔːn/ noun

In Latin: lucesco, dilucesco, luciscere Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about dawn at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The first light of day.
we got up before dawn
The earliest period.
the dawn of civilization
An opening time period.
it was the dawn of the Roman Empire

verb

Become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions.
It dawned on him that she had betrayed him
Appear or develop.
The age of computers had dawned
Become light.
It started to dawn, and we had to get up

Origin

From Middle English dawnen, either a back-formation from dawnynge or a modification of dawen (“to dawn”) after it. The noun is from the verb.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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