Etymograph

English

month

Month comes from Old English mōnaþ, from Proto-Germanic *mēnōþs ‘month’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s ‘moon, month’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mḗh₁n̥s1‘moon’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mēnōþs1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mānōþ1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mōnaþ1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mon(e)th1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1624month1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English month
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “Sckenkius hath two other instances of two melancholy and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mḗh₁n̥sWiktionary, English month‘moon’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mēnōþsWiktionary, English monthreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mānōþWiktionary, English monthreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mōnaþWiktionary, English month
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mon(e)thWiktionary, English month
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1624monthWiktionary, English month. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “Sckenkius hath two other instances of two melancholy and…”

The story

From Middle English mon(e)th, from Old English mōnaþ, from Proto-West Germanic *mānōþ, from Proto-Germanic *mēnōþs (‘month’), from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (‘moon, month’), probably derived from *meh₁- (‘measure’) with moon-cycles being used to measure time. Eclipsed non-native Old English calend (‘month’), borrowed from Latin calendae.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with month, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘measure’

  • measure ← mesure ← mesure ← mēnsūra ← mētior
  • meal ← mel ← mǣl ← *māl ← *mēlą
  • moral ← mōrālis ← mōs ← *mōs
  • meter ← metere ← metend
  • immense ← immens ← immensus ← mensus ← mētior
  • metric ← métrique ← metricus ← metrum ← μέτρον
  • dimensional ← dimension ← dīmēnsiō ← dīmētior ← mētior
  • dimension ← dīmēnsiō ← dīmētior ← mētior ← *mētis
  • metre ← metrum ← μέτρον
  • meta
  • mesa ← mēnsa ← mēnsus ← mētior ← *mētis
  • moody ← mody ← mōdiġ ← *mōdagaz ← *mōdaz

85 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A period into which a year is divided, historically based on the phases of the moon.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “month”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s / month