eve
/iːv/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.32 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The period of time when something is just about to happen or to be introduced
name
The first woman and mother of the human race; Adam's wife.
name
An unspecified primordial woman, from whom many or all people are descended.
name
A female given name from Hebrew.
name
name
Example Sentences
- "She died on the eve of her 100th birthday."
- "on a cold winter's eve."
- "I love to see the shaking twig / Dance till the shut of eve"
- "And has she tired of weeping / As she lies down at eve."
- "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."
- "the eve of a scientific discovery"
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".