lunula

American  

[loo-nyuh-luh] / ˈlu nyə lə /

Also lunule

noun

lunulae plural

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; see -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

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

From BBC • Nov. 10, 2025

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

From BBC • Oct. 7, 2025

P. lunula manages to avoid this natural behaviour.

From Science Daily • Nov. 18, 2024

This may well be the case for the question of how P. lunula and other dinoflagellates manage to avoid bright light.

From Science Daily • Nov. 18, 2024

Of gold work, for which Ireland is especially famous, the principal feature in the bronze age was the lunula, a crescent-shaped flat gold ornament generally decorated at the ends of the crescent.

From The Glories of Ireland by Lennox, P. J.