evening

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 宵 conveys the beginning of the night.
• Basic usage: 宵（よい） means early evening, while 宵越し（よいごし） means keeping something overnight.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Early evening and keeping something overnight
  • In 祭りの宵 and 宵の風, 宵 refers to early evening. Its focus is the beginning of the night rather than the whole night.
  • 宵越しの銭を持たない means not keeping money until the next day. 宵越し refers to keeping it overnight, rather than simply to money held in the early evening.