Pronounced: OW-troh, noun
Notes: I’ve never run across this word
Yesterday’s word
The word vespertine means
- of, relating to, or occurring in the evening
- active, flowering, or flourishing in the evening
First usage
Our word came into English in the very late 1400s or very early 1500s
Background / Comments
After reading the definition (especially the first one), I realized that I should have known the word, as I am acquainted with the word vespers from reading Dorothy Sayers. In at least one story (possibly more), there is talk of attending vespers, which I looked up and learned that it meant an evening service. Our word comes from the Latin word vespertīnus, which comes from vesper (evening star; evening), which came from the Greek word hesperos (evening). Some related words: Today we know the evening star as “Venus”, but it was one known as “Vesper”. The word “vespertilian” means bat-like.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 