昨夜ゆうべ

ゆ

う

べ

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

1

noun, adverb

last night; yesterday evening

Refers to the previous night or evening. Often used adverbially without a particle.

昨夜ゆうべはよく眠ねむれなかった。
I couldn't sleep well last night.
昨夜ゆうべのパーティーは楽たのしかった。
The party last night was fun.

Written forms

Applies to each form listed below

gikun (meaning-based reading) or jukujikun

昨夜
- ゆうべ
  Standard kanji spelling; reading ゆうべ is a jukujikun.
- よべ
  out-dated reading
- ゆんべ
  rarely-used kana form
ゆうべUsage100%
Kana spelling is common in everyday writing, especially when the kanji reading might be ambiguous.
昨夕ゆうべ
rarely-used kanji form
Rarely used kanji form; same jukujikun reading.
よべ
out-dated reading
ゆんべ
rarely-used kana form

Kanji

昨yesterday, previous
夜night, evening
夕evening

Similar words

昨さく晩ばん
More formal and literary than 昨夜 (ゆうべ). 昨晩 is typically used in writing or formal speech, while ゆうべ is common in everyday conversation.
夕ゆうべ
When written 夕べ, it usually means 'evening' (the time of day), not 'last night'. The kanji 昨夜 specifically means 'last night'.

Etymology

The reading ゆうべ is a jukujikun (meaning-based reading) for 昨夜, combining 昨 (previous) and 夜 (night). The word itself is native Japanese, related to 夕べ (evening).