Good night or Good night: which one is correct? (2023)

Ygood nightone or two words?

The short answer is that both forms are acceptable spellings. you can use anygood nightogood nightwhen you're saying goodbye to someone at the end of the night.

However,good night, with two separate words‌, is considered the most correct way to spell this word in formal writing.

This article will explain how to remember the difference betweengood nightmigood nightand help you use this word correctly in your writing.

Is goodnight one word or two?

Good nightIt can be written as one word or two words. Let's take a closer look at the nuances between these two spellings.

good night spelling

In the past,good nightwas the only correct way to spell this word. It is an open compound word, which means that it includes a space in the middle, just likeGood afternoonmigood day.

In recent decades, however,good nightit has become a popular alternate spelling.

One difference between these two spellings is thatgood nightis more commonly used as an adjective, whilegood nightis most commonly used as an interjection. We will discuss this difference in more detail in the next section.

Another difference is that the spellinggood nightit's best suited for casual settings, like when you're texting your friends at the end of the night.

On the other hand, if you are composing a professional email or writing a book, it is better to use the old spelling,good night.

meaning of the word good night

The most common use ofgood nightIt's like an interjection. It's a common parting phrase that you can use at the end of the day. One way to think of it is as a shorter form of the phrase "I hope you have a good night."

For example, if you are leaving a party late at night, say "good night" to the other guests as you leave.

Similarly, if you're texting late at night, you can send a "goodnight" message to the other person to let them know you're about to go to sleep.

Good nightIt can also work as an adjective, if you use it to describe a noun. For example, a kiss can be a "good nightkiss” if given before going to sleep.

Some English experts prefer to usegood nightwith a space as a farewell phrase, andgood nightogood nightas adjective.

For example, you can spell "Kiss your sistergood night” with a space, becausegood nightused as a parting phrase. On the other hand, you can spell "Give your sister agood nightkiss” without space, becausegood nightis used as an adjective.

It makes sense to combine the two words in this scenario, because that way the reader won't get confused about how the sentence is divided.

sarongbornmieveningprevents the reader from accidentally reading "kiss goodnight" as the opposite of "kiss goodnight."

Finally, another meaning ofgood nightit's just describing a night as good. For example, you could say “I had agood nightat the party."

In this case, it's not a compound word, it's just the wordsbornmieveningused separately. You must always spellgood nightwith a space in this scenario.

Examples of good night or good night

Let's look at some examples ofgood nightmigood nightin English literature.

"Don't be nice about itgood night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." —Dylan ThomasAbout the country dream and other poems

“Good night Good Night! Goodbye, it's such a sweet sadness that I'll saygood nightSee you tomorrow." -William Shakespeare,Romeo and Juliet

“Good night, Westley. Good job. Sleep well. I'll probably kill you in the morning. —William Goldmanthe princess Bride

“They go home, they go to bed, they go round and round, wondering how it was done. take them onegood nights to forget everything.” —Leigh Bardugo,six of crows

“Keep turning the knobs: the next password will be 'Mad-Eye'. Stay safe. Keep the faith.Good night.” - J. K. Rowling,Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

“One by one, the families broke up with agood nightand a handshake, suddenly grateful for the company of the neighbors. Closed doors to warm houses. Candles were lit in the windows.”—Nicole Krauss,love story

"Life is full of stories. Or maybe life is just stories.Good night, mi dear Nao.”—Ruth Ozeki,a story for now

“I want to call you every five minutes. I want to send you a messagegood nightall night. I want to make you laugh. —Jenn BennettThe anatomical shape of a heart.

“The cure for a broken heart is simple, my lady. A hot bath and agood nightstop." —Margarita Jorge,Queen Mary of Scots and the Isles

“The woman on the other end of the line was named Michelle. And I told Michelle that I was a boy and I didn't need an exercise machine, but I hoped she would have one.good night. That's when Michelle hung up on me." -Stephen Chbosky,The perks of Being a Wallflower

“Good nightstars,good nightarkansas,good nightnoises everywhere.”—Margaret Wise Brown,good night Moon

“The librarian looked approvingly at his charges, made his last rounds of the sleeping shelves, then dragged his blanket under the table, ate agood nightbanana and fell asleep. —Terry PratchettOrigen

“Good nightPrinces of Maine, Kings of New England." —John IrvingThe rules of the cider house

"That's how it's saidgood nightand say goodbye." —Neil Hillborn,our days numbered

"Thatgood nightin the garden was forever. Anne never saw Ruby again in life." —Lucy Maud Montgomery,Ana da Ilha

“In the Glade, Chuck became a symbol for him, a beacon that could somehow fix everything in the world. Sleep in beds. be kissedgood night.”—James Dashner,the maze runner

“He might ask you out and take you out to dinner and try to steal agood nightbeijo.”—Linda Kage,price of a kiss

“It's when I'm sitting alone with the phone in my hand dialing your number and hanging up that I would trade a thousand tomorrows for just one yesterday. So I could call you to tell yougood night.”—James Frey,a million pieces

“I would have told him that I loved him. But not me. I didn't because I didn't know. I didn't even saygood night. Good bye. —T.J. KluneIn this river I drown

How to remember the difference between good night or good night

A good rule of thumb is to usegood nightinstead ofgood nightwhen you use it as an interjection. The two-word spelling is usually the safer option, as it is an older spelling accepted by all English dictionaries.

One way to remember that you need to use a space is to think of the opposite interjection,good day, which is the phrase you say at the beginning of the day, not at the end of the day. You must always spellgood daywith a space so it's safe to spellgood nightin the same way

when are you usinggood nightas an adjective, it is okay to omit the space. You can remember this by replacing the word with a different adjective, such as "soft kiss" or "friendly kiss." These adjectives have one word. So it's good for the adjective.good nighthave a word too.

If you're not sure what you're writinggood nightcorrectly, you can always run your work through ProWritingAid, which will help you resolve the error with one click.