eve

See also: Eve, EVE, éve, evé, Ève, Êve, and Eʋe

English

Etymology

From a variant of the Middle English noun even (itself from Old English ǣfen), with a pre-1200 loss of the terminal '-n', which was mistaken for an inflection. See also the now archaic or poetic even (“evening”), from the same source.

In medieval Europe, days were considered to extend from sunset to sunset rather than midnight to midnight, so the night before a holiday was considered part of it, hence its "eve".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iːv/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːv
• Homophones: eave, Eve

Noun

eve (plural eves)

1. The day or night before, usually used for holidays, such as Christmas Eve.
2. (archaic, poetic) Evening, night.
   • Mid-19th century, John Clare, Autumn:

     I love to see the shaking twig / Dance till the shut of eve

   • 1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, chapter XXVII, in A Shropshire Lad, lines 42–43:

     And has she tired of weeping / As she lies down at eve.

   • 2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 79:

     Sitting on the dockside at Oban, watching the to-ing and fro-ing in the harbour on a perfect summer's eve, I reflect on a trip which has taken me through our busiest cities to traverse the country's main lines, as well as explore some of the furthest extremities that were literally out on a limb.

4. (figurative) The period of time when something is just about to happen or to be introduced

   Antonyms: evening, winter

   the eve of a scientific discovery

Synonyms

• (evening): een, eventide, forenight; see also Thesaurus:evening

Derived terms

• All Hallows' Eve
• evejar
• evetide
• evetime
• good eve
• yestereve

 

Related terms

• evening
• even

Translations

day or night before

• Armenian: նախօրյակ (hy) (naxōryak), նախօրե (hy) (naxōre), ճրագալույց (hy) (čragaluycʻ) (of Christmas, Epiphany and Easter)
• Azerbaijani: qabaq (az), ərəfə
• Bulgarian: навечерие n (navečerie)
• Catalan: vigília (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 前夕 (zh) (qiánxī), 前夜 (zh) (qiányè)

• Czech: předvečer (cs) m
• Dutch: vooravond (nl) m, (Church) vigilie (nl) f
• Esperanto: antaŭvespero
• Finnish: aatto (fi)
• French: veille (fr) f
• Friulian: vilie f
• Galician: véspera f
• German: Vorabend (de) m
• Hebrew: עֶרֶב (he) m ('érev)
• Hungarian: előeste (hu)
• Ingrian: aatto
• Italian: vigilia (it) f
• Japanese: 前夜 (ja) (ぜんや, zen'ya)
• Ladin: ueia f, vea f, vëia f
• Ladino: arba
• Latin: vesper m
• Latvian: priekšvakars m
• Ligurian: vigília f
• Lithuanian: ìšvakarės (lt) f pl
• Lombard: vigília f
• Maltese: lejliet
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: aften (no) m

• Old English: ǣfen m
• Piedmontese: vigilia f
• Polish: wigilia (pl) f, przeddzień (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: véspera (pt) f
• Romanian: ajun (ro) n, preziuă (ro) f
• Russian: кану́н (ru) m (kanún)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: предвечерје, предвече

  Roman: predvečerje (sh), predveče (sh)

• Spanish: víspera (es) f, vigilia (es) f
• Swedish: afton (sv) c
• Tagalog: bisperas
• Turkish: arefe (tr), akşam (tr)
• Ukrainian: передде́нь m (pereddénʹ)
• Urdu: رات (ur) f (rāt)
• Volapük: büsoar (vo)

period of time when something is about to happen

• Azerbaijani: qabaq (az), ərəfə
• Russian: кану́н (ru) m (kanún), преддве́рие (ru) m (preddvérije)

Further reading

• “eve”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• EeV, Vee, vee

Äiwoo

Numeral

eve

1. three

References

• Ross, M. & Næss, Å. (2007) “An Oceanic origin for Äiwoo, the language of the Reef Islands?”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 46, number 2. Cited in: "Äiwoo" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

Ewe

Ewe cardinal numbers

<  1	2	3  >
Cardinal : eve     Ordinal : evelia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeve/

Numeral

eve

1. two

Finnish

Etymology

Slang, from ekstaasi (folk-etymologically connected with the nickname Eve, with which it is unrelated)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeʋe/, [ˈe̞ʋe̞]
• Rhymes: -eʋe
• Hyphenation^(key): eve

Noun

eve (slang)

1. ecstasy (drug)

Declension

Inflection of eve (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
nominative		eve	evet
genitive		even	evejen
partitive		eveä	evejä
illative		eveen	eveihin
		singular	plural
nominative		eve	evet
accusative	nom.	eve	evet
	gen.	even
genitive		even	evejen evein rare
partitive		eveä	evejä
inessive		evessä	eveissä
elative		evestä	eveistä
illative		eveen	eveihin
adessive		evellä	eveillä
ablative		eveltä	eveiltä
allative		evelle	eveille
essive		evenä	eveinä
translative		eveksi	eveiksi
abessive		evettä	eveittä
instructive		—	evein
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of eve (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative eveni eveni accusative nom. eveni eveni gen. eveni genitive eveni evejeni eveini rare partitive eveäni evejäni inessive evessäni eveissäni elative evestäni eveistäni illative eveeni eveihini adessive evelläni eveilläni ablative eveltäni eveiltäni allative evelleni eveilleni essive evenäni eveinäni translative evekseni eveikseni abessive evettäni eveittäni instructive — — comitative — eveineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative evesi evesi accusative nom. evesi evesi gen. evesi genitive evesi evejesi eveisi rare partitive eveäsi evejäsi inessive evessäsi eveissäsi elative evestäsi eveistäsi illative eveesi eveihisi adessive evelläsi eveilläsi ablative eveltäsi eveiltäsi allative evellesi eveillesi essive evenäsi eveinäsi translative eveksesi eveiksesi abessive evettäsi eveittäsi instructive — — comitative — eveinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative evemme evemme accusative nom. evemme evemme gen. evemme genitive evemme evejemme eveimme rare partitive eveämme evejämme inessive evessämme eveissämme elative evestämme eveistämme illative eveemme eveihimme adessive evellämme eveillämme ablative eveltämme eveiltämme allative evellemme eveillemme essive evenämme eveinämme translative eveksemme eveiksemme abessive evettämme eveittämme instructive — — comitative — eveinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative evenne evenne accusative nom. evenne evenne gen. evenne genitive evenne evejenne eveinne rare partitive eveänne evejänne inessive evessänne eveissänne elative evestänne eveistänne illative eveenne eveihinne adessive evellänne eveillänne ablative eveltänne eveiltänne allative evellenne eveillenne essive evenänne eveinänne translative eveksenne eveiksenne abessive evettänne eveittänne instructive — — comitative — eveinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative evensä evensä accusative nom. evensä evensä gen. evensä genitive evensä evejensä eveinsä rare partitive eveään eveänsä evejään evejänsä inessive evessään evessänsä eveissään eveissänsä elative evestään evestänsä eveistään eveistänsä illative eveensä eveihinsä adessive evellään evellänsä eveillään eveillänsä ablative eveltään eveltänsä eveiltään eveiltänsä allative evelleen evellensä eveilleen eveillensä essive evenään evenänsä eveinään eveinänsä translative evekseen eveksensä eveikseen eveiksensä abessive evettään evettänsä eveittään eveittänsä instructive — — comitative — eveineen eveinensä

Synonyms

• ekstaasi

Anagrams

• vee

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

eve (present tense ever, past tense eva or evet, past participle eva or evet)

1. (reflexive) to wait, doubt, drag one's feet

References

• “eve” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• Homophone: æve

Etymology 1

From Old Norse efa, ifa. Compare also with earlier ivast.

Alternative forms

• eva (verb, a- and split infinitives)
  • (Aasen) æva, ivast
• (noun): (Aasen) Æve

Verb

eve (present tense evar, past tense eva, past participle eva, passive infinitive evast, present participle evande, imperative eve/ev)

1. (reflexive) to wait, doubt, drag one's feet

Noun

eve m (definite singular even, indefinite plural evar, definite plural evane)

1. doubt, uncertainty

Etymology 2

Related to eva (Etymology 2) and ev.

Alternative forms

• eva (non-standard since 2012)

Noun

eve f (definite singular eva, indefinite plural ever, definite plural evene)

1. trace, rest

Old French

Etymology

Latin aqua.

Noun

eve oblique singular, f (oblique plural eves, nominative singular eve, nominative plural eves)

1. Alternative form of iaue; water

Rapa Nui

Noun

eve

1. buttocks

Turkish

Noun

eve

1. singular dative of ev

Zazaki

Alternative forms

• ev (southern zazaki)

Article

eve

1. the