lunula

American  

[loo-nyuh-luh] / ˈlu nyə lə /

Also lunule

noun

plural

lunulae

1. something shaped like a narrow crescent, as the small, pale area at the base of the fingernail.

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lunula British  

/ ˈluːnjuːl, ˈluːnjʊlə /

noun

1. Nontechnical name: half-moon.  the white crescent-shaped area at the base of the human fingernail

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Other Word Forms

• pseudolunula noun
• pseudolunule noun

Etymology

Origin of lunula

First recorded in 1565–75; from Latin lūnula “crescent-shaped ornament,” literally “little moon,” equivalent to lūn(a) “moon” + -ula, feminine diminutive noun suffix; -ule

Explanation

You know how we refer to anything to do with the moon as "lunar"? Well, that word plays into the meaning of lunula, which is something with a curved, half-moon shape — like the white at the base of your fingernails. The Latin word for moon is lūna, which was also one of the name of the Roman moon goddess. From that we get lunula, which is the name of the nail matrix, the living part of the fingernail and toenail, a visible white, half-moon-shape at the nail’s base. Here's a spelling hint: the plural of lunula is lunulae, adding an e instead of an s, a spelling rule peculiar to words that have a Latin origin and end in a.

Example Sentences

Neither the museum or the police have specified what items were stolen, but the museum's Bronze Age collection includes gold ingots, bracelets and a lunula necklace.

From BBC • Oct. 8, 2025

The museum's Bronze Age collection includes gold ingots, bracelets, and a lunula necklace.

From BBC • Oct. 7, 2025

P. lunula is an example of a dinoflagellate -- a single-celled organism that cannot move on its own.

From Science Daily • Nov. 18, 2024

Biophysicists Nico Schramma, Gloria Casas Canales and Maziyar Jalaal devised a clever way to study what exactly happens to the chloroplast of P. lunula when it is exposed to light.

From Science Daily • Nov. 18, 2024

Near the root is a little crescentric-shaped white portion called the lunula.

From The Art of Living in Australia ; together with three hundred Australian cookery recipes and accessory kitchen information by Mrs. H. Wicken by Muskett, Philip E.