Sunshine

Sunshine

Noun · /ˈsʌnʃaɪn/ · the light and warmth of the sun; cheerfulness; a term of affection

Definition

Sunshine is the direct light and radiant warmth produced by the sun when no cloud or obstruction stands between it and the observer. The word covers both the physical phenomenon — the electromagnetic radiation from the sun reaching the earth's surface — and the quality of the environment it creates: a warm, bright, luminous day filled with sunshine is qualitatively different from an overcast one in ways that go far beyond temperature. Sunshine is also used figuratively with great frequency: it describes a warm, cheerful, life-giving quality in a person, a situation, or an attitude. To bring sunshine into someone's life is to bring happiness and warmth. To be someone's sunshine is to be the source of their joy.

Origin

Sunshine is a compound of sun and shine — both among the oldest words in the English language. Sun comes from Old English sunne; shine from Old English scinan, meaning to radiate light, to gleam, to be bright. The compound sunshine appears in English from at least the thirteenth century, one of the earliest weather compound words in the language. It appears in the Cursor Mundi, a Middle English poem from around 1300: the contrast between sunshine and shadow. The figurative use — sunshine as happiness or cheerfulness — developed alongside the literal from very early on, reinforcing the ancient human association between sunlight and wellbeing.