Nocturnals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Relating to animals that are active during the night while being less active or dormant during the day
2. Describing species or organisms that thrive in darkness and exhibit behaviors primarily at night
3. Pertaining to creatures that engage in their primary activities, such as hunting or foraging, under the cover of night

Etymology: "Nocturnals" is simply the plural of "nocturnal", so it is the form of an adjective used as a noun for the animals themselves. The adjective traces back to Latin "nox", meaning "night", which also gave rise to Latin "nocturnus", "of the night". It passed through Late Latin "nocturnālis" and Middle French "nocturnal" before English adopted it. The Latin root is an old one. "Nox" is distantly related to Ancient Greek "núx" and to English "night" itself, since both descend from a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European word for night. So the English word "night" and the scientific term for night-active creatures share a common ancestor, though they arrived by very different routes.