honeymoon
Pronunciation
- /ˈhʌn.iˌmuːn/[1]
Etymology
It is a compound from English honey + moon.[2][3][4][5] The OED thinks that the allusion was perhaps at first to love that wanes as the moon does, and that a second reading, love that lasts only a month, soon followed, as the later honey month shows.[2] The American Heritage Dictionary also suggests a comparison of the waning moon with the affection of a newly married couple, most tender just after the wedding,[6] and the Shorter Oxford, the Concise Oxford and Word Origins say the original reference was to waning affection, not to a month.[4][7][8] Merriam-Webster and Etymonline take moon as "month", the first month of marriage being the sweetest.[5][3] Etymonline notes the French phrase lune de miel and German Flitterwochen, from Flitter (“tinsel”) and Wochen (“weeks”).[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
The period just after a wedding, as a time of love and happiness: 1546, in John Heywood's Dialogue of proverbs.[2][5] Etymonline thinks the word is probably older.[3] In 1552 Richard Huloet explained it as a term proverbially applied to the newly married, who love each other exceedingly at first, "the likelyhode of theyr exceadynge loue appearing to aswage, ye which time the vulgar people cal the hony mone".[2][9]
Semantic evolution
Ayto takes Huloet's explanation to show that the word was already established by the 1550s and that married love was thought sweet as honey but soon waning like the moon.[9] The figurative sense, an early period of goodwill, appeared as early as 1579,[2][3] and is now used chiefly in politics, often of the end of such a period.[2] Word Origins notes that in the 16th century the honeymoon was the first month of marriage, whether or not the couple went away, which very few then did.[8] The sense "holiday taken by a newly married couple" is recorded from 1791,[2] about 1800 in Etymonline,[3] and the verb from 1821, in a letter of Mary Russell Mitford.[2][3][5]
Timeline
- 1546 – the first period of marriage, as a time of love.[2][5]
- 1552 – Huloet's explanation of the term.[2][9]
- 1579 – an initial period of goodwill.[2]
- 1791 – a holiday taken by a newly married couple.[2]
- 1821 – verb, to take a honeymoon.[2][5]
Meanings
Noun
- A holiday or trip taken by a newly married couple: They spent their honeymoon in Crete.[10][5][2]
- The early period of a marriage, thought of as a time of love and happiness.[2][5]
- An early period of goodwill and harmony in a relationship, especially in politics: The new mayor's honeymoon with the press lasted barely a month.[10][2][5]
Verb
Word family
- honeymooner
Related words
Usage notes
Brewer explained the word from a custom of the ancient Teutons of drinking mead for thirty days after a wedding;[11] the dictionaries derive it instead from the waning of the moon or from moon "month".[2][4][5]
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
- ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
- ^ Brewer, E. Cobham (1898), Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, new ed., London: Cassell