How to Say "Sunrise" in Greek

ανατολή

anatolí/a.na.toˈli/feminine

The Greek word for sunrise is ανατολή (anatolí).

ανατολή refers to the time of day when the sun rises. You may also see the phrase ανατολή του ηλίου used to specifically mean sunrise.

Meaning: time of day (noun)

What does it mean word for word?

The word ανατολή literally means 'east' or 'the rising', which refers to the direction where the sun appears.

ανατολή is a feminine noun. Because of this, the genitive singular form used to say 'of the sunrise' is της ανατολής.

anatolí (/a.na.toˈli/). The word has 4 syllables and the stress is on the 4th syllable.

The word ανατολή is the root for 'Anatolia', the geographical term for the Asian part of Turkey.
While ανατολή refers to the east, the word for 'west' is δυση, which literally means 'setting', describing the sun's disappearance.
The verb root inside ανατολή comes from an ancient word meaning 'to perform' or 'to accomplish'.

Είδες την ανατολή σήμερα το πρώι;
Did you see the sunrise this morning?
This sentence shows how to ask if someone saw the ανατολή earlier today.
Tatoeba #7766286 by eypros, translation #3096138 by CK
από την ανατολή ως την δύση
From sunrise to sunset
This phrase uses ανατολή to describe a range from sunrise to sunset.
Wiktionary
Τα άνθη του νούφαρου ανοίγουν κατά την ανατολή και κλείνουν κατά τη δύση του ηλίου.
The water lily's flowers open at sunrise and close at sunset.
This sentence describes how flowers react to the ανατολή.
Tatoeba #12058465 by carlosalberto, translation #8855756 by sundown
Κοίτα το όμορφο ξημέρωμα!
Look at the beautiful sunrise!

Eleni and Dimitris are planning a hiking trip to see the view.

Ελένη Eleni

Θέλω να δούμε την ανατολή από το βουνό.
Thélo na doúme tin anatolí apó to vounó.
I want us to see the sunrise from the mountain.
Δημήτρης Dimitris

Τι ώρα πρέπει να ξυπνήσουμε τότε;
Ti óra prépei na xypnísoume tóte?
What time do we need to wake up then?
Ελένη Eleni

Πρέπει να είμαστε εκεί πριν την ανατολή.
Prépei na eímaste ekeí prin tin anatolí.
We need to be there before the sunrise.
Δημήτρης Dimitris

Εντάξει, θα θέσω το ξυπνητήρι στις πέντε.
Entáxei, tha théso to xypnitíri stis pénte.
Okay, I will set the alarm for five.

Sources

Wiktionary, “sunrise” translations and entries ανατολή, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
Word origins: Wiktionary entries ανατολή, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR, Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.

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