黄昏
also: こうこん
Meanings
The time of day when the sun has set but it is not yet completely dark; often carries a poetic or slightly nostalgic tone.
The twilight sky is beautiful.
He likes taking a walk at dusk.
twilight years; declining years
Metaphorical use referring to the later stage of life, akin to the fading light of dusk.
He quietly spent the twilight years of his life.
melancholy; wistful nostalgia
Only with reading たそがれ
Colloquial use, often in the phrase 黄昏る (tasogareru), describing a state of sentimental melancholy or pensive nostalgia, especially at dusk.
When you're alone at dusk, you kind of get all wistful, don't you?
Usage patterns
- 黄昏の〈場所〉a place bathed in the light of dusk
I walked alone through the town at dusk.
- 黄昏を迎えるto enter one's twilight years
He was entering the twilight years of his life.
- 〈物〉が黄昏に染まるfor something to be tinged with the colors of dusk
The mountains were tinged with the colors of dusk.