ブルームーン
burū mūn
The English phrase "blue moon" is translated into Japanese as ブルームーン (burū mūn).
ブルームーン is a loanword from English. It is used to refer to the astronomical phenomenon of a second full moon in a month.
Meaning: full moon (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is burū mūn.
Did you know?
- Japanese has no native idiom equivalent to 'once in a blue moon'. Instead, they use phrases like 滅多にない to express that something happens very rarely.
- In Japanese, the word 'blue' is written as 青い, which can refer to both blue and green, but when using the loanword ブルームーン, the specific Western concept of the color blue is preserved.
- While ブルームーン refers to the moon's appearance, the Japanese language has a specific term 月見 for the traditional autumn custom of moon-viewing parties.
Examples in context
- 彼らは青い月を見た。They saw a blue moon.
- 青い月は幻想的だ。A blue moon is fantastical.
- 今晩はブルームーンが見えるよ！You can see the blue moon tonight!
- 彼はブルームーンに祈りを捧げた。He offered a prayer to the blue moon.
- 今夜はブルームーンが見えるよ。Konya wa burūmūn ga mieru yo.You can see a blue moon tonight.
Example conversation
A couple looking up at the night sky from a balcony.
- 結衣 Yui見て、蓮。ブルームーンだよ！Mite, Ren. Burūmūn da yo!Look, Ren. It's a blue moon!
- 蓮 Ren本当に。すごく大きい月だね。Hontō ni. Sugoku ōkii tsuki da ne.Truly. It is a very large moon.
- 結衣 Yui一生の思い出になりそう。Isshō no omoide ni narisō.It feels like it will be a lifelong memory.
- 蓮 Ren結衣と一緒に見られて嬉しいよ。Yui to issho ni mirarete ureshii yo.I am happy to see it together with you, Yui.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “blue moon” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
