vespertine

Did You Know?

Imagine this vespertine scenario: Hesperus, the Evening Star, shines in a clear sky; little brown bats flutter near the treetops; somewhere in the distance a church bell calls worshipers to the evening service. Can you find three words (other than "vespertine") associated with the Latin root vesper, which means "evening," hidden in that scene? The evening star was once known as "Vesper" ("Hesperus" is from the Greek for evening); vespertilian means "batlike" (the Latin word for bat is "vespertilio"); and we still call an evening worship service "vespers."