English
lucifugous
Lucifugous comes from Latin lucifugus ‘light-fleeing’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElucifugus‘light-fleeing’
- Englishearliest quotation 1865lucifugous
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElucifugus‘light-fleeing’
- Englishearliest quotation 1865lucifugous
Earliest quotation: 1865, Oakley: “Owls and bats and other such shy and lucifugous…”
A compound of lucere ‘to shine’ + fugere ‘to flee’
Proto-Indo-European *lewk- ‘bright’
Proto-Indo-European *lowkéyeti ‘to light up’
Proto-Italic *loukeō ‘to cause to emit light, to cause to shine, to ignite’
Latin luceō ‘to shine’
Every English word from Latin lucifugus
Today it means
adj Having a dislike of light, particularly from the sun.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin lucifugus / lucifugous