midnight
mid·night[ˈmɪd̚naɪt]noun, adjective
midnight is spelled M-I-D-N-I-G-H-T: 8 letters and 2 syllables (mid·night). It appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,224th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, midnight means “The middle of the night: the sixth temporal hour, equidistant between sunset and sunrise” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of midnight is midnights.
How many letters and syllables are in midnight?
| Letters | 8: M-I-D-N-I-G-H-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: mid·night |
| In writing | 20 times per million words; the 4,224th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is midnight?
Midnight appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,224th 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 midnight?
- /ˈmɪd(ˌ)naɪt/
- UK [ˈmɪd̚naɪt]
- British [ˈmɪd̚(ˌ)nɑjt]
Midnight has 2 syllables, split mid·night in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-midnight.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with midnight
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: midnite.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of midnight
- midnights plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does midnight mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The middle of the night: the sixth temporal hour, equidistant between sunset and sunrise.
Thanks to its sonar, the narwhal can remain active even at midnight, unhindered by the darkness.
- 2
Twelve o'clock at night exactly.
- 3
Synonym of boxcars (“a pair of sixes”).
adjective
- 1
Utterly dark or black.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate midnight?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of midnight: mdnt, mdnt..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Midnight in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | minuit |
| German | Mitternacht |
| Spanish | medianoche, madrugada |
| Portuguese | meia-noite |
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 midnight come from?
From Middle English midnight, from Old English midniht, from Proto-Germanic *midjanahts (“midnight”), equivalent to mid- + night. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Midnoacht (“midnight”), Old High German mittinaht (“midnight”), Danish midnat (“midnight”), Swedish midnatt (“midnight”), Icelandic miðnætti (“midnight”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Middernoacht (“midnight”), Dutch middernacht (“midnight”), German Mitternacht (“midnight”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).