1.
twilight; dim light; half-light
The soft, faint light around dawn or dusk when the sun is below the horizon; also used for any dim, ambient light.
薄明の中を歩く。
To walk in the twilight.
薄明の空が美しかった。
The twilight sky was beautiful.
夜明け前の薄明の時間帯は、鳥たちが一斉に鳴き始める。
In the twilight hours before dawn, the birds all begin singing at once.
A compound of 薄 (thin, faint) and 明 (light, brightness). A literary and somewhat formal word for the soft light of dawn or dusk. It has a poetic, atmospheric quality and is often used in literature, photography, and descriptions of nature.
In astronomy, 薄明 is also a technical term for twilight — the period when the sun is below the horizon but its light is still scattered in the atmosphere.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 薄明の空: twilight sky
- 薄明の中: in the twilight
- 薄明の光: twilight light
- 朝の薄明: morning twilight
SIMILAR WORDS:
- たそがれ: twilight (especially dusk) — more poetic and literary; from 黄昏
- 夕暮れ: evening twilight, dusk — more everyday and specific to evening
- 明け方: dawn, daybreak — the time just before sunrise
- 薄明るい: dimly lit — the adjective describing the quality of faint light