nocnej

Nocnej is a grammatical form found in Polish. It is not a separate lexical entry, but the feminine singular genitive (and, in many contexts, the feminine singular dative) form of the adjective nocny, which means “night” or “nocturnal.” The base root is noc-, related to night.

In Polish adjectives, nocny describes things associated with night. Its feminine singular forms include nocna in the nominative, with nocnej occurring in cases that require an -ej ending, most notably the genitive and dative. Therefore, nocnej appears when the noun it modifies is feminine and in genitive or dative case. For example: kolor nocnej tkaniny (the color of the night fabric) or nocnej ciszy (of the night’s silence).

A closely related form is nocniej, the adverb meaning “more nocturnally” or “to a greater extent at night.” This adverbial form is used to compare actions or states in relation to night rather than to modify a noun.

Usage notes: nocnej functions as a short-lived inflected variant rather than as an independent word with a fixed meaning. Its role is to align with the gender and case of the head noun it describes, in contrast to the base form nocny, which would appear in masculine contexts or in the dictionary entry.

See also: nocny, noc, nocturnal in other languages.