vakars

Latvian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *wékeras (“evening”), from Proto-Indo-European *wekʷsperos. The stem was probably originally an adjective, of which vakars < *vakaras was a nominalized version, and vakar the adverbial form, originally meaning “the previous night” and only later “yesterday”; compare Russian ве́чер (véčer, “evening”), вчера́ (včerá, “yesterday”). Cognates include Lithuanian vãkaras, Old Church Slavonic вечеръ (večerŭ), Russian, Bulgarian ве́чер (véčer), Belarusian ве́чар (vjéčar), Ukrainian ве́чір (véčir), Czech večer, Polish wieczór, Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hésperos), Latin vesper, Old Armenian գիշեր (gišer).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

vakars m (1st declension)

1. evening (time of day, roughly around sunset; also, the time period at the end of the day and before the beginning of the night)

   vēls vakars ― late evening

   ziemas vakars ― winter evening

   vakara saule ― evening sun

   vakara vēsma ― evening breeze

   vakara vēsums ― evening coolness

   ap septiņiem vakarā ― at about seven (o'clock) in the evening

   mācīties pa vakariem ― to study in the evening(s)

   vakara krēsla, vakarkresla ― twilight (lit. evening dusk)

   vakara blāzma, vakarblāzma ― afterglow (lit. evening gleam)

   vakara zvaigzne, vakarzvaigzne ― evening star (= Venus)

   vakara vējš ― evening breeze

   pret vakaru sāka līt ― toward evening it began to rain

2. (in the genitive, used adjectivally) evening (typical of that time period; happening in that time period)

   vakara laikraksts ― evening newspaper

   vakara skola ― evening school

3. (figuratively) evening (the final or end phase of some phenomenon)

   mūža, dzīves vakars ― the evening of life (= old age)

   es piedzīvoju uzvaras un smagus zaudējumus, un tagad es eju uz vakara pusi ― I have lived through victories and heavy losses, and now I am going toward evening (= the end)

4. evening (a social event taking place at the end of the day)

   dzejas vakars ― poetry evening

   atpūtas vakars ― recreation evening

   jubilejas vakars ― anniversary evening

   jautājumu vakars ― question evening

   saviesīgs vakars ― soirée, party (lit. social evening)

   vakara vadītājs ― evening host, master of ceremonies

   kungu vakars ― gentlemen's evening (party attended only by men)

5. (in the genitive, used adjectivally) evening (used or worn for activies or events that happen at the end of the day)

   vakara kleita, vakarkleita ― evening dress

   vakara tērps, vakartērps ― evening clothes

6. (with the name of a holiday) eve (the final stage of that holiday; also, the night before that holiday)

   līgo vakars ― Midsummer's Eve

   Mārtiņa vakars ― Martinmas' Eve

   Ziemassvētku vakars ― Christmas' Eve

Usage notes

Vakars is a noun, meaning “evening” (locative form vakarā “in the evening”, used also as a temporal adverb) while historically related vakar is an adverb, meaning “yesterday” (its nominal counterpart is vakardiena “(the day of) yesterday”).

Declension

Derived terms

See also

• Times of day (diennakts daļas):
  ausma/rītausma - rīts - priekšpusdiena - pusdiena - pēcpusdiena - vakars - krēsla - nakts - pusnakts

References

Swedish

Noun

vakars

1. indefinite genitive plural of vak

Anagrams

• kvasar, skarva, vaskar