moonbeam
/ˈmun.bim/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.22 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any of various Australasian lycaenid butterflies of the genus Philiris.
noun
Someone who tends to be dreamy and prone to unrealistic romanticism.
noun
A goal or aspiration that appears attractive but is ultimately insubstantial.
Example Sentences
- "Holonym: moonlight"
- "Be kinde and curteous to this gentleman, / Hop in his walkes, and gambole in his eyes, / Feede him with Apricocks, and Dewberries, / With purple Grapes, greene figges, and Mulberries, / The hony bagges ſteale from the humble Bees, / And for night tapers, croppe their waxen thighes, / And light them with at the fiery Glowe-wormes eyes, / To haue my loue to bedde, and to ariſe, / And pluck the wings, from painted Butterflies, / To fanne the Moone-beames from his ſleeping eyes, / Nod to him Elues, and doe him curteſies."
- "A moonbeam pierced the heavy cloud!"
- "Perhaps it may be that my mind is wrought / To a fever by the moonbeam that hangs o'er."
- "Quickly the moon sent a moonbeam down, and it shone through the window, right on the face of the sleeping child, kissed him, and gave him a pleasant dream."
- "The mountain flanked on the east by Devil's Peak and glancing to the right Lion's Head and Signal Hill shimmers and the residents at the foot of the mountain bask in the splendour of moonbeams."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s Proto-Germanic *mēnô Proto-West Germanic *mānō Old English mōna Middle English mone English moon Proto-Germanic *bagmaz? Proto-West Germanic *baum Old English bēam Middle English bem English beam English moonbeam Compound of moon + beam.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmun.bim/