month

The word “month” means one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year, originally tied to the cycle of the moon. In plain terms, one of the 12 blocks that make up a year — January, February, and so on.

“Month” is pronounced muhnth (/mʌnθ/ in IPA).

Here is “month” used in a sentence: “Her birthday falls in the same month as mine.”

“Month” is a noun.

The word “month” comes from Old English. From Old English monath, going back to a Proto-Germanic word for "month" that is itself descended from the same ancient root as "moon" — months were originally counted by moon cycles.

“Month” is a very common word in modern English, usually learned at around the A1 level.

“Month” has 2 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year, originally tied to the cycle of the moon.

A calendar month is one of the twelve fixed divisions of the year, lasting 28 to 31 days. A lunar month is the roughly 29.5 days the moon takes to complete one cycle of phases. Calendar months were originally based on the moon, but were adjusted to fit neatly into the solar year.

Twelve comes from the number of times the moon completes its cycle during one journey of the Earth around the sun — about twelve lunar months per solar year. The Roman calendar fixed the number at twelve and adjusted the lengths so the months would keep pace with the seasons.

It varies from 28 to 31. Seven months have 31 days, four have 30, and February has 28, or 29 in a leap year. On average a calendar month lasts about 30.4 days. The uneven lengths exist to make twelve months add up to a full 365-day year.