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

Derived Forms

• pseudolunule
  noun
• pseudolunula
  noun

Inflected Forms

noun

• lunulae
  plural

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.