crepuscular
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 8 March 2026
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 8, 2026 is:
crepuscular • \krih-PUHSS-kyuh-ler\ • adjective
Crepuscular means “of, relating to, or resembling twilight.” It is used in zoological contexts to describe creatures that are active during twilight, or the activities of such creatures.
// As evening came on, fireflies began to appear in the crepuscular gloaming.
Examples:
“To gaze upon a platypus is to witness a jumble of contradictions. … Even when you see one with your own eyes—say, paddling underwater, absorbed in her crepuscular rooting—the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) remains hard to believe.” — Kathleen Yale, Orion, Winter 2025/2026
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 lūcidus, meaning “bright.” (Crepusculum was likely modeled on diluculum, from the assumed root krepos-, meaning “twilight.”) English speakers didn’t embrace either of these Latin nouns as substitutes for the word twilight, but they 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.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for March 8th. |
| 0:11.6 | Today's word is Crepuscular, spelled C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-A-R. |
| 0:18.7 | Crepuscular is an adjective. |
| 0:20.6 | It means of relating to or resembling twilight. It's used in |
| 0:24.7 | zoological contexts to describe creatures that are active during twilight or the activities of such |
| 0:30.9 | creatures. Here's the word used, and a sentence from Orion. To gaze upon a platypus is to witness a jumble of contradictions. Even when you see |
| 0:40.6 | one with your own eyes, say paddling underwater absorbed in her crepuscular rooting, the platypus |
| 0:46.6 | remains hard to believe. The early Romans had two words for the twilight. Krupusculum was favored by Roman writers for the half-light of evening just after the sun |
| 0:58.1 | sets. |
| 0:59.2 | De luculum was reserved for morning twilight just before the sun rises. |
| 1:04.7 | It's related to Lucidus, meaning bright. |
| 1:07.7 | Crapusculum was likely modeled on diluculum from the assumed root crepus, meaning |
| 1:13.2 | twilight. English speakers didn't embrace either of these Latin nouns as substitutes for the word |
| 1:19.1 | twilight, but they did form the adjective crepuscular in the 17th century. The words |
| 1:24.9 | zoological sense relating to animals that are most active at twilight developed in the 19th century. The words zoological sense relating to animals that are most active at twilight |
| 1:29.0 | developed in the 19th century. With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
| 1:37.9 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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