What does "alpenglow" mean?

A rosy or reddish glow seen during sunset or sunrise on the summits of mountains, especially snow-covered mountains on the opposite side of the sun.

What is a synonym for "alpenglow"?

Common synonyms include: aurora, crepuscule, glow, small hours, twilight.

Pronounced //ˈæl.pən.ɡloʊ//.

//ˈæl.pən.ɡloʊ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A rosy or reddish glow seen during sunset or sunrise on the summits of mountains, especially snow-covered mountains on the opposite side of the sun. uncountable, usually
"But Jim was all smiles and, as if in added welcome, alpenglow suddenly flared to flood the summit hot pink and lit up the cabin."

"But Jim was all smiles and, as if in added welcome, alpenglow suddenly flared to flood the summit hot pink and lit up the cabin."

A partial calque of German Alpenglühen (literally “glow of the Alps”), with the second element replaced by the English equivalent glow.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.