also: よ
noun, adverb
Refers broadly to the dark part of the day, from evening into night. It can be used as a noun or adverbially to mean 'at night' or 'in the evening.'
夜になると、この道は暗い。
At night, this road is dark.
夜、少し散歩した。
I took a short walk at night.
noun
Only with reading よる
Casual elliptical use of よる for the evening meal, understood from context as 夜ご飯 or 夕食. This sense is restricted to the reading よる.
今日の夜はカレーにしよう。
Let's have curry for dinner tonight.
Also means evening or night, and appears in common meal words such as 晩ご飯; 夜 is the more basic word for night as a time of day.
Refers specifically to late afternoon or early evening before it is fully night, whereas 夜 covers the night/evening period more broadly.
A clearer and more formal word for dinner; 夜 meaning dinner is casual and context-dependent.
A native Japanese word conventionally written with the kanji 夜, meaning night. The reading よる is the ordinary modern reading; よ is an alternate reading found especially in fixed or literary-style uses. The precise historical development is not detailed.