今月

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 今月は忙しいです。▶ —
   I am busy this month.
2. 今月の予定を立てる。▶ —
   I plan this month's schedule.

Collocations

Mnemonic

こんげつ — 今月, Sino-Japanese. Unpack the two kanji ── 今 (now) + 月 (month) = 'the present month' = this month. 先月 · 今月 · 来月 form one row of the time matrix ── 先 (past) · 今 (present) · 来 (future). The kanji 月, one and the same, changes its voice ── calendar unit and deictic: 先月 sen-getsu, 今月 kon-getsu ── げつ. month names: 一月 ichi-gatsu (January) ── がつ. One single kanji carries two readings, げつ and がつ. Which one is decided by the word it enters. The kanji 月 is originally the pictograph of a crescent moon ── the celestial moon became the time unit itself. One cycle of waxing and waning is one 'month'. The Korean readings geum / wol are sister to the onyomi こん / げつ.

Quick check

1. Year Japan adopted the solar calendar?

   • 1873 (Meiji 5)
   • 1600 (start of Edo)
   • 1945 (postwar)
   • 1989 (Heisei)