The optical absorption spectra of the rhombohedral DyOF were measured at selected temperatures between 9 and 300 K. The emission spectra of the Dy 3+ ion in the LaOF and GdOF matrices were obtained at 77 K and room temperature. The energy level scheme of Dy 3+ (4f 9 electron configuration) was simulated with a Hamiltonian of 20 parameters. The diagonalization of the energy matrices including simultaneously the free ion and crystal field (c.f.) interactions was carried out for the C 3v point symmetry of the RE 3+ site. Good correlation with an rms deviation of 17 cm −1 was obtained between the experimental and calculated energy level schemes of 153 Kramers doublets. The c.f. parameters show only slight distortion from O h symmetry. A comparison to Pr 3+ (4f 2 ), Nd 3+ (4f 3 ), Sm 3+ (4f 5 ), Eu 3+ (4f 6 ), and Tb 3+ (4f 8 electron configuration) in other REOF matrices showed smooth evolution of the c.f. effect which was discussed in terms of the possible interactions involved. The x-ray powder diffraction pattern of DyOF between 6.5 • < 2θ < 120 • was analysed by the Rietveld profile refinement method. The structural data were used to calculate the c.f. parameters by the modified electrostatic point charge model yielding B 4 0 , B 4 3 and B 6 0 values close to the experimental ones, whereas the B 2 0 , B 6 3 , and B 6 6 values were too large. Using the experimental free ion and c.f. wave functions, the paramagnetic susceptibility of DyOF as a function of temperature was simulated. Above the Néel temperature (3.6 K), good agreement was obtained between the calculated and experimental susceptibilities in the paramagnetic range.