north light
1
5.7
- noun
- Specialized
:
luz del norte
- The music room was cheerful, with north light flooding through a picture window that looked down over a formal garden.
- studio with abundant north light
- windows provide north light
- indoor scenes with north light
Examples
-
The building has an east-west orientation to take advantage of the natural north light that penetrates the gallery spaces.
Blog text (25) -
Eventually, carpenters and other artisans would install a skylight in the 50-foot end wall to let in the north light.
Fiction book (2002) -
It is also called "trapdoor lighting" because the master had a trapdoor cut in the roof of his studio to let in the north light that graced many of his models at this angle.
Academic text (1993) -
In my studio, I always work by north light, which is the most consistent and the coolest.
-
Every object in north light is bathed in the magical and poetic quality of this silvery light.
Synonyms
Natural light that comes into a room through a window
How Steady
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is a straightforward modifier + noun composition: 'north' specifies the direction/source and 'light' names the phenomenon, so its basic meaning 'light coming from the north' is directly derivable from the constituents. The additional artisanal nuance that north-facing light is steady and indirect is domain-specific, but the core spatial/compositional meaning is transparent and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it.
Etymology
North light comes from the simple image of sunlight entering a room from the north side through a window and giving gentle, even light. Artists and photographers liked this north light because it does not change much during the day, so the term means 'steady, indirect light'.