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diurnal

/daɪˈɝ.nəl/adjective, noun

diurnal is spelled D-I-U-R-N-A-L: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, diurnal means “Happening or occurring during daylight, or primarily active during that time” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in diurnal?

Letters7: D-I-U-R-N-A-L
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 42,145th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is diurnal?

Diurnal appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce diurnal?

  • UK /daɪˈɜːnəl/
  • US /daɪˈɝ.nəl/

Diurnal has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-diurnal.ogg, En-au-diurnal.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with diurnal?

11 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as diurnal from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹnəl/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of diurnal

  • diurnals plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does diurnal mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Happening or occurring during daylight, or primarily active during that time.

    Most birds are diurnal.

  2. 2

    Said of a flower that is open, or releasing its perfume during daylight hours, but not at night.

  3. 3

    Having a daily cycle that is completed every 24 hours, usually referring to tasks, processes, tides, or sunrise to sunset; circadian.

  4. 4

    Done once every day; daily, quotidian.

  5. 5

    archaicPublished daily.

noun

  1. 1

    A flower that opens only in the day.

  2. 2

    A book containing canonical offices performed during the day, hence not matins.

  3. 3

    archaicA diary or journal.

  4. 4

    archaicA daily news publication.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Diurnal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdiurne (happening during daylight; primarily active…), journalier (having a daily cycle), quotidien (done once every day)
Germantagaktiv (happening during daylight; primarily active…), tagtäglich, jeden Tag (having a daily cycle), täglich, einmal pro Tag (done once every day), diurnal (botany; of flowers open or releasing perfume…)
Portuguesediurno (happening during daylight; primarily active…), diário (having a daily cycle)
Spanishdiurno (happening during daylight; primarily active…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does diurnal come from?

From Latin diurnālis, from diēs (“day”). Doublet of journal.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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