month
See also: monð
English
Alternative forms
- moneth (dialectal)
Etymology
From Middle English month, moneth, from Old English mōnaþ (“month”), from Proto-Germanic *mēnōþs (“month”), from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon, month”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”), referring to the moon's phases as the measure of time, equivalent to moon + -th. Cognate with Scots moneth (“month”); North Frisian muunt (“month”); Saterland Frisian Mound (“month”), Dutch maand (“month”); German Low German Maand, Monat (“month”); German Monat (“month”); Danish and Norwegian Bokmål måned (“month”); Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish månad (“month”); Icelandic mánuði (“month”); Latin mēnsis (“month”); Ancient Greek μήν (mḗn); Armenian ամիս (amis); Old Irish mí; Old Church Slavonic мѣсѧць (měsęcĭ). See also moon.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /mʌnθ/, [mɐn̪θ], enPR: mŭnth
Audio (RP) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /mʌnθ/, [mʌn̪θ], enPR: mŭnth
Audio (GA) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌnθ
Noun
month (plural months or (rare) month)
- A period into which a year is divided, historically based on the phases of the moon.
- July is my favourite month.
- 2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
- Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.
- A period of 30 days, 31 days, or some alternation thereof.
- We went on holiday for two months.
- 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
- Charles had not been employed above six months at Darracott Place, but he was not such a whopstraw as to make the least noise in the performance of his duties when his lordship was out of humour.
- 2011 September 29, Jon Smith, “Tottenham 3-1 Shamrock Rovers”, in BBC Sport:
- With the north London derby to come at the weekend, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp opted to rest many of his key players, although he brought back Aaron Lennon after a month out through injury.
- (obsolete, in the plural) A woman's period; menstrual discharge.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970:
- Sckenkius hath two other instances of two melancholy and mad women, so caused from the suppression of their months.
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Derived terms
- Eastermonth
- monthly
- month of Sundays
- month's mind
- periodic month
- sidereal month
- time of the month
- tropical month
- Yulemonth
Translations
period into which a year is divided
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See also
- calendar
- day
- time
- week
- year
- (Gregorian calendar months) Gregorian calendar month; January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December (Category: en:Gregorian calendar months)
- (Hebrew calendar months) Hebrew calendar month; Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, Adar, Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul (Category: en:Hebrew calendar months)
- (Islamic calendar months) Islamic calendar month; Muharram, Safar, Rabi I, Rabi II, Jumada I, Jumada II, Rajab, Sha'ban, Ramadan, Shawwal, Dhu'l-Qa'da, Dhu'l-Hijja (Category: en:Islamic months)
Middle English
Noun
month
- Alternative form of moneth