lunar month

IPA/ˌluːnə ˈmʌnθ/
IPA/ˌluːnər ˈmʌnθ/

lunar month — noun

1. a moon-based month lasting about 29.5 days, counted from a new moon until the ne

1.nounC1
Definition

a moon-based month lasting about 29.5 days, counted from a new moon until the next new moon appears.

Example

Kabir marked each lunar month on the temple calendar with a red pen.

mark each lunar month on a calendar

The baby ceremony was held one lunar month after Mina was born.

one lunar month after + event

Common collocations
  • each lunar month
  • one lunar month later
  • a lunar month lasts about 29.5 days
  • count the lunar months
Synonyms
  • synodic month

    a more technical astronomy term for the same cycle

  • moon month

    an informal descriptive phrase rather than the standard term

Antonyms
  • calendar month

    a month fixed by a civil calendar rather than by the moon

Grammar Patterns

a lunar month lasts + length

one lunar month after + event

count + each lunar month

Usage Note

Common in astronomy, traditional calendars, and festival timing. It refers to the moon's repeating cycle, so it is shorter than the fixed months used in most civil calendars.

Common Mistakes

A lunar month has thirty-one days.
A lunar month lasts about twenty-nine and a half days.
it follows the moon's cycle, so it is shorter than most calendar months.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These terms all relate to repeating periods, but they are used in different ways. 'Lunar month' is the standard general term for the moon-based month that runs from one new moon to the next. 'Synodic month' means the same period, but it sounds technical and is mostly used in astronomy or formal explanation. 'Calendar month' is different because it follows the dates in a civil calendar, so it may be twenty-eight, thirty, or thirty-one days. 'Moon cycle' is broader and more informal: it can mean the visible changes of the moon, not only the exact month used for counting time. When you are talking about festivals, old calendars, or the length between new moons, 'lunar month' is usually the clearest choice.

lunar month ↗synodic monthcalendar monthmoon cycle

Common collocations

Nouns

  • lunar calendar
  • lunar cycle

Phrases

  • during a lunar month
  • one lunar month after
  • measure a lunar month

Etymology

LatinOld EnglishEnglish

This phrase joins 'lunar', a word that comes from the Latin name for the moon, with 'month', an old English time word long connected to the moon's repeating phases. English uses the compound to name the roughly twenty-nine-and-a-half-day period that follows the moon rather than the fixed page of a civil calendar.