half-moon

1. 1.

   the crescent-shaped area at the base of the human fingernail

   Synonymslunulalunule

   Broaderarea

   Part ofnail
2. 2.

   the time at which the Moon is at first or last quarter when half its face is illuminated

   Broaderphase of the moon

   Narrowerfirst quarterlast quarter

   Part ofmonth

Questions about half-moon

What does half-moon mean?

half-moon means "the crescent-shaped area at the base of the human fingernail". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in half-moon?

half-moon has 2 syllables: half--moon. The stress falls on "half-".

What is another word for half-moon?

Close synonyms include lunula, lunule. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is half-moon a common word?

half-moon is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.