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sunlight

UK/ˈsʌnˌlaɪt/US/ˈsʌnˌlaɪt/
nounA2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,856 of 15,258neutral

Sunlight is the light given off by the sun. Direct sunlight, in the sunlight, keep out of sunlight.

It takes just over eight minutes to reach the earth, so what you see left the sun before you got up to look. Keep away from direct sunlight is the standard instruction on anything that fades or spoils.

NASA · Public domain

Definitions of sunlight

  1. 1nounsunlightThe light given off by the sun.A2+

    “The plant needs plenty of sunlight, so put it by the window.”

sunlight is a light.

Where it comes from

Old English sunnan leoht is sun plus light.

  1. Old English

    sunnan lēoht — sunlight

  2. Middle English

    sonnelight

  3. English, today

    sunlight

From Middle English sonnelight, sunneliht, from Old English sunnan lēoht (“sunlight”), equivalent to sun + light. Cognate with Dutch zonlicht (“sunlight”), German Low German Sünnenlücht (“sunlight”), German Sonnenlicht (“sunlight”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

sunlight in the wild

  • Upon reaching the Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through the Earth's atmosphere as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon.

    Sunlight

  • Daylighting is the natural lighting of interior spaces by admitting sunlight.

    Sunlight

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.