month

See also: monð

English

Alternative forms

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 *mê- (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 ; Old Church Slavonic мѣсѧць (měsęcĭ). See also moon.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /mʌnθ/, [mɐn̪θ], enPR: mŭnth
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  • IPA(key): /mʌnθ/, [mʌn̪θ], enPR: mŭnth
  • (file)
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  • Rhymes: -ʌnθ

Noun

month (plural months or (rare) month)

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. (obsolete, in the plural) A woman's period; menstrual discharge.
    • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: [], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):
      , vol.I, New York, 2001, p.234:
      Sckenkius hath two other instances of two melancholy and mad women, so caused from the suppression of their months.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

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