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daylight

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "daylight", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "daylight" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "daylight" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

daylight is aEnglishnoun. It means: The natural light that is ambient in daytime, being mostly sunlight (both direct and indirect, on either sunny days or cloudy days). Pronounced /ˈdeɪlaɪt/. It ranks #9,030 in English word frequency. Often confused with delight.

Key facts for daylight
PropertyValue
Headworddaylight
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈdeɪlaɪt/
Letters8
Frequency rank#9,030
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of daylight in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for daylight is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈdeɪlaɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,030 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 13 documented wrong-spelling variants for daylight, with forms such as "adylight", "dalyight", and "dayilght". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "delight", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English daye-lighte, dey liȝht, dailiȝt, day-liht, dai-liht (also as days lyȝt, daies liht), equivalent to day + light. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Deegeslucht, Daisljoacht (“daylight”), West Frisian deiljocht (“daylight”), Dutch daglicht (“d… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is daylight, spelled D-A-Y-L-I-G-H-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The natural light that is ambient in daytime, being mostly sunlight (both direct and indirect, on either sunny days or cloudy days).
  2. 2
    A light source that simulates daylight.
  3. 3
    The intensity distribution of light over the visible spectrum generated by the Sun under various conditions or by other light sources intended to simulate natural daylight.
  4. 4
    The period of time between sunrise and sunset.
  5. 5
    Daybreak.
  6. 6
    Exposure to public scrutiny.
  7. 7
    A clear, open space.
  8. 8
    The space between platens on a press or similar machinery.
  9. 9
    Emotional or psychological distance between people, or disagreement.
  10. 10
    Meaningful or noticeable difference or distinction between two things, especially concepts.
  11. 11
    The gap between the top of a drinking-glass and the level of drink it is filled with.

Etymology

From Middle English daye-lighte, dey liȝht, dailiȝt, day-liht, dai-liht (also as days lyȝt, daies liht), equivalent to day + light. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Deegeslucht, Daisljoacht (“daylight”), West Frisian deiljocht (“daylight”), Dutch daglicht (“daylight”), German Tageslicht (“daylight”).

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: adylight,dalyight,dayilght,daylgiht,dayligght,daylighht,daylightt,dayligth,daylihgt,dayllight,dayylight,ddaylight,dyalight

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for daylight

Misspelling Variants of "daylight"

adylight8dalyight8dayilght8daylgiht8dayligght9daylighht9daylightt9dayligth8
Misspelling Variants of "daylight"

Frequency rank: #9,030 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "daylight"?
"daylight" is spelled D-A-Y-L-I-G-H-T. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈdeɪlaɪt/.
What does "daylight" mean?
As a noun, "daylight" means: The natural light that is ambient in daytime, being mostly sunlight (both direct and indirect, on either sunny days or cloudy days).
What words are commonly confused with "daylight"?
"daylight" is commonly confused with "delight". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "daylight"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "daylight" is /ˈdeɪlaɪt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "daylight"?
From Middle English daye-lighte, dey liȝht, dailiȝt, day-liht, dai-liht (also as days lyȝt, daies liht), equivalent to day + light. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Deegeslucht, Daisljoacht (“daylight”), West Frisian deiljocht (“daylight”), Dutch da... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.