moonlight

B2 Topic:Time

Also spelled moon-light

US /ˈmunˌlaɪt/ UK /ˈmuːnlaɪt/ See IPA manual

noun verb Freq #6767

Meanings

1

noun
The light of the moon.

We walked along the beach in the soft moonlight.
2

verb
To do a second job, usually secretly and in the evening, in addition to your main one.

The law student moonlights as a taxi driver to pay the rent.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the light of the moon. moonshine

Word family

Forms moonlightedmoonlightingmoonlights

Derived forms moonlight-and-magnoliamoonlightermoonlightingmoonlighty

Related forms moonlit

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s Proto-Germanic *mēnô Proto-West Germanic *mānō Old English mōna Middle English mone Proto-Indo-European *lewk-der. Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz Proto-West Germanic *leuht Old English lēoht Middle English light Middle English moonelight English moonlight The noun is derived from Middle English moonelight, monelight, mone lyght (“light of the moon; (heraldry) pattern of moons on the field of a heraldic banner”), from mon, mone (“moon”) (from Old English mōna (“moon”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon; month”))…

moonelight,monelight,mone lyght Middle English mōna Old English *mḗh₁n̥s Proto-Indo-European lēoht Old English *lewk- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Time

# moonlight

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** ˈmunˌlaɪt
**IPA (UK):** ˈmuːnlaɪt
**Frequency rank:** 6767

## Meanings
1. The light of the moon.
2. To do a second job, usually secretly and in the evening, in addition to your main one.

## Examples
- We walked along the beach in the soft moonlight.
- The law student moonlights as a taxi driver to pay the rent.

## Derived Forms
- moonlight-and-magnolia
- moonlighter
- moonlighting
- moonlighty

## Related Forms
- moonlit

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: moonelight,monelight,mone lyght
- Root: mōna
- Root: *mḗh₁n̥s
- Root: lēoht
- Root: *lewk-

## Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s Proto-Germanic *mēnô Proto-West Germanic *mānō Old English mōna Middle English mone Proto-Indo-European *lewk-der. Proto-Germanic *leuhtaz Proto-West Germanic *leuht Old English lēoht Middle English light Middle English moonelight English moonlight The noun is derived from Middle English moonelight, monelight, mone lyght (“light of the moon; (heraldry) pattern of moons on the field of a heraldic banner”), from mon, mone (“moon”) (from Old English mōna (“moon”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon; month”))…

## AI Etymology
Moonlight is a compound whose noun is derived from Middle English moonelight, monelight, mone lyght (“light of the moon; (heraldry) pattern of moons on the field of a heraldic banner”), from mon, mone (“moon”). The moon element runs through Old English mōna and ultimately Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon; month”), while the light element runs through Old English lēoht and Proto-Indo-European *lewk-. In present-day English it names the light of the moon and, as a verb, means to do a second job, usually secretly and in the evening, in addition to a main one.

## Topics
- Time

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