Goodnight

How to spell goodnight

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce goodnight

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does goodnight mean?

1. interjectionA farewell said to someone in the evening or before going to sleep.
2. nounThe act or words of saying farewell in the evening.

Goodnight in a sentence

• interjection

  She waved and called goodnight from the doorway before heading upstairs.

• noun

  She gave the baby a quick goodnight kiss and closed the nursery door.

• interjection

  He whispered goodnight to the children and switched off the lamp.

• noun

  They exchanged a brief goodnight and went their separate ways.

Where does goodnight come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a compound formed from the everyday Old English words god, meaning 'pleasant' or 'beneficial', and niht, meaning the dark part of the day. For centuries it was written as two separate words and lived inside longer parting blessings such as 'God give you good night', a polite wish that the listener pass the hours of darkness in safety and rest. Over time the blessing was trimmed down to the bare salutation, and in modern use the two parts have fused into a single closed form when it functions as the farewell or as a noun. The pull toward the older two-word spelling 'good night' is exactly what trips writers up, since both forms remain in circulation. The root night is also the source of related words like 'nightfall' and 'midnight', all sharing that same ancient Germanic stem.

How the word is built

• good (Old English god: pleasant, beneficial)
• night (Old English niht: the dark hours)