Entre chien et loup

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French Expression

Meaning	at nightfall, dusk, twilight
Literally	between dog and wolf
Register	normal
Pronunciation		[a(n) treu shyeh(n) ay loo]
IPA		[ã tʁə ʃjɛ̃ e lu]

Usage notes: What’s the difference between nightfall, dusk, and twilight? Poetry.

The French word for dusk is crépuscule, which to me sounds rather ominous. I suppose the French expression entre chien et loup is too, since it suggests that the limited light prevents you from knowing whether you’re looking at a dog or a wolf,* but somehow the poetry of the expression makes it all okay.

Par exemple…

Je n’aime pas sortir entre chien et loup.		I don’t like going out at dusk.
Nous l’avons rencontré à la plage, entre chien et loup.		We met him on the beach at twilight.

Synonymous expressions

• au crépuscule
• à la brunante (Canadian French)
• à la brune (literary)
• à la nuit tombante
• à la tombée de la nuit
• à l’heure bleue

 Some sources, including Littré, state that entre chien et loup is also synonymous with à la tombée du jour (dawn), but Le Petit Robert and TLFi disagree.

 *In the most basic sense, the dog represents the day while the wolf symbolizes the night, but you can take it much further than that.

Chien		Loup
daylight		night-time
comfort		fear
domestic		wild
familiarity		strangeness
friend		foe
hope		despair
knowledge		doubt
light		dark
safety		danger

 Related lessons

• Expressions with chien
• Telling time

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