Meanings
alternative May-to-December · alternative May and December
- not comparablePertaining to a relationship in which one person is much older than the other.
Whatever fantasy you can’t act out in real life can be fulfilled in fan fiction. May-December relationships are very popular, as are boys transforming into girls.
2013, Katherine Arcement, “Diary”, in London Review of Books, volume 35, number 52 more examples
One of the appeals of May/December relationships in fiction, for me, is that gulf of understanding between partners whose life experiences will never share the same footing at the same time, and the frustrations and desires that come with trying to bridge that gulf.
2024, Blue Delliquanti, Adversary, →ISBNA cohort raised on the rigid moral boundaries of internet discourse – things are either good or bad, no in-between – decided that May-December relationships were either problematically one-sided or transactional in nature.
2026 June 5, Alaina Demopoulos, “Age gaps, swag gaps and Claude gaps – are they really such a big deal in relationships?”, in The Guardian, →ISSNSynonyms: May–September
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivePertaining to a relationship in which one person is much older than the other.
Origin
From the lyrics to the song September Song, by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson, first published in 1938, about such a relationship, which includes the line It's a long, long time from May to December.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
May–December. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/May%E2%80%93December
“May–December.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/May%E2%80%93December. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “May–December,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/May%E2%80%93December.
Source: May–December on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.