month

• moneth (dialectal)

From Middle English month, moneth, from Old English mōnaþ (“month”), from Proto-West Germanic *mānōþ, 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.

• enPR: mŭnth, IPA^(key): /mʌnθ/

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• Rhymes: -ʌnθ

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.
   • 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:

     Sckenkius hath two other instances of two melancholy and mad women, so caused from the suppression of their months.

• bimester
• trimester
• quadrimester
• semester
• year

• 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)}

month

1. Alternative form of moneth