Word of the Day：August 8， 2022
crepuscular
黃昏的
adjective /krih-PUHSS-kyuh-ler/ ［krɪˈpʌskjələr］
What It Means
Crepuscular
means “of， relating to， or resembling twilight。” It is also used in zoological contexts to describe creatures that are active during twilight， or to the activities of such creatures。
Crepuscular 意思是“類似暮光的”。 它還指動物學中在黃昏活躍的生物，或此類黃昏生物的活動。
CREPUSCULAR in Context
“Cardinals， a
crepuscular
species， follow their own schedule， eating an early breakfast and a stylishly late dinner。 They will break that schedule on very cold days。” — Jim Williams，
The Star Tribune
（Minneapolis， Minnesota）， 16 Feb。 2022
“紅雀，一種黃昏的動物，按照自己的時間表，吃早飯和晚飯。他們也會在非常寒冷的日子打破這個時刻表。”
As evening came on， fireflies began to appear in the crepuscular gloaming。
夜幕降臨，螢火蟲開始出現在黃昏下。
Did You Know?
The early Romans had two words for the twilight。
Crepusculum
was favored by Roman writers for the half-light of evening， just after the sun sets； diluculum was reserved for morning twilight， just before the sun rises—it is related to lucidus， meaning “bright。” We didn‘t embrace either of these Latin nouns as substitutes for our word twilight， but we did form the adjective crepuscular in the 17th century。 The word’s zoological sense， relating to animals that are most active at twilight， developed in the 19th century。
The early Romans 使用了兩個有關於黃昏的詞。 羅馬作家喜歡用 Crepusculum 描述黃昏時分；diluculum 描述在太陽昇起前的晨光——與 lucidus 有關，意思是“bright「明亮的」”。 我們沒有接受這些拉丁名詞來代替我們的單詞 twilight，但我們確在 17 世紀形成了形容詞的 crepuscular。 它的動物學含義是與黃昏時最活躍的動物有關，出現於 19 世紀。
Quiz
What 6-letter word starting and ending with “a” means “dawn” and is also the name of a Roman goddess？
aurora
