Nightlife

How to spell nightlife

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce nightlife

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does nightlife mean?

1. nounThe social activity, entertainment, and venues that operate in a town or city after dark.

Nightlife in a sentence

• The city is famous for its vibrant nightlife and late-night bars.

• Tourists flock to the coastal resort for its sun by day and its lively nightlife by night.

Where does nightlife come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound formed from two of the oldest words in the language: 'night', from Old English 'niht', meaning the dark hours between sunset and sunrise, and 'life', from Old English 'lif', meaning existence or living activity. Both halves trace back to common Germanic roots, with cousins across Dutch and German. The compound itself is relatively modern, appearing in English during the nineteenth century to describe the social and entertainment activity that takes place after dark in a town or city. The spelling is simply the two familiar words joined without a space, which is the main thing a writer has to remember, since some people are tempted to split it into 'night life'.

How the word is built

• night (Old English niht: the dark part of the day)
• life (Old English lif: existence)