amanecer

To dawn, or for the day to break — amanece a las siete en verano — and, in a common extended sense, to be somewhere or in some state at daybreak: amanecimos en la playa, amaneció enfermo. It's impersonal in the literal weather/daylight sense, like llover.

• En invierno amanece mucho más tarde. — In winter, it gets light much later.
• Amanecimos en la carretera después de conducir toda la noche. — We found ourselves on the road at dawn after driving all night.
• El paciente amaneció con fiebre esta mañana. — The patient woke up with a fever this morning.

Treating amanecer as a simple synonym for 'to wake up' (despertar) — its core sense is about daybreak itself; the 'waking up in a certain state/place' usage always ties back to that moment of dawn, not to waking from sleep generally.

Often confused with anochecer.

• book Amanecer — The Spanish-language title of Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn (2008), the fourth novel in the Twilight/Crepúsculo saga, published in Spanish under this title.