nächtlicher

Nächtlicher is a German adjective meaning nocturnal or night-related. It is used to describe nouns that are associated with night or occur during the night. The base form nächtlich is formed from Nacht (night) plus the suffix -lich, producing a family of adjectives that denote night-related qualities.

In usage, nächtlicher describes masculine singular nouns in contexts where the noun is not clearly marked by a determiner, or in some common descriptive phrases. The word appears in literature, science, and everyday descriptive prose to convey events, phenomena, or objects tied to nighttime, such as nächtlicher Nebel (nocturnal fog), nächtlicher Sturm (nighttime storm), or nächtlicher Mondschein (nighttime moonlight). The same adjective inflects for other genders and numbers as nächtliche (feminine or plural) or nächtliches (neuter) depending on the noun and its article.

Etymology and related forms: nächtlicher derives from nächtlich, which itself comes from Nacht plus the suffix -lich. This pattern is productive in German, yielding words such as nächtlich (nocturnal), freundlich (friendly), or herrlich (wonderful). In contrast, nächtlich can also function as an adverb or in other syntactic positions, while the exact ending of the attributive form changes with gender, number, and case.

See also: nächtlich, Nacht, nocturnal in other languages.