Darkled

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To transition into a state of dimness or shadow To become shrouded in obscurity or gloominess To experience a decrease in brightness or clarity
2. To begin to exhibit reduced brightness or to grow faintly shadowed
3. To enter a condition characterized by diminished light or increased gloom

Etymology: "Darkled" is the past tense of "darkle," a verb meaning to grow dim or faintly shadowed. The verb was formed by back-formation from "darkling," an older adjective-turned-adverb meaning "in the dark" or "growing dark," which itself combines "dark" with the suffix "-ling." Speakers apparently took "darkling" to be a participle of a verb and so carved out a new verb from it, a process that tends to produce words that sound older than they are. Both halves of the family are plain English. "Dark" comes from Old English "deorc," and the "-le" ending is a frequentative or diminutive-style suffix found in verbs like "sparkle" and "twinkle," giving "darkle" the sense of repeatedly or gradually going dark. The result is a word that feels like poetic diction, and it is, since "darkle" appears mainly in literary and elevated writing where a flickering or fading light is being described.