Meanings
plural Januaries · plural Januarys · alternative abbreviation Jan · alternative abbreviation Jan. · alternative abbreviation JAN
- The first month of the Gregorian calendar, following the December of the previous year and preceding February.
Holonyms: calendar year; year
5 more examples
01/01/09 : Thursday, 1st January(,) 2009.
American style: Thursday, January 1st, 2009.
I hate Januarys: it's always too cold.
I get sick a lot in the winter, so I spent this past January as I’ve spent many Januaries before it — in bed with a standard-issue flu.
2020 June 30, Sophie Atkinson, “Andy Warhol’s Secrets for Surviving Isolation”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2020The Louisville Metro Police Department terminated Detective Myles Cosgrove in January for use of deadly force for firing 16 rounds into Taylor’s home and failing to activate his body camera, according to a copy of his termination letter.
2021 December 13, Amir Vera, “Louisville detective who fatally shot Breonna Taylor is appealing his termination from the police department”, in CNN, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2022Synonyms: First Month
- rareA female given name transferred from the month name [in turn from English].
“Hi, January!” Lynn calls. “Happy birthday!”
2011, Michael Schofield, January First
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounThe first month of the Gregorian calendar, following the December of the previous year and preceding February.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe first month of the year; begins 10 days after the winter solstice
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*yeh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*yeh₂-no-
- Proto-Italic*jānos
- Latiniānus
- LatinIānus
- LatinIānuārius
- Anglo-Normangenever
- Middle EnglishJanevere
- Middle EnglishJanuarie
- EnglishJanuary
From Middle English Januarie, januari, re-latinised forms of Middle English Janevere, Ieneuer, from Anglo-Norman genever, from Latin Iānuārius (“(month) of Janus”), a compound of Iānus ("Janus") + -ārius (adjectival suffix), with the first element perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root *yeh₂- (“to go”). Doublet of Gennaro.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans Januarie
- Januariefirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Ancient Greek Ἰανουάριος
- Ἰανουάριος (Ianouários)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Arabic يَنَايِر, كَانُون اَلثَّانِي
- يَنَايِر (yanāyir)first month of the Gregorian calendar
- كَانُون اَلثَّانِي (kānūn aṯ-ṯānī)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Basque urtarril
- urtarrilfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Bengali জানুয়ারি
- জানুয়ারি (januẏari)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Bulgarian януа́ри
- януа́ри (januári)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Catalan gener
- generfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Chinese Cantonese 一月
- 一月 (jat¹ jyut⁶)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Chinese Mandarin 一月, 元月
- 一月 (yīyuè)first month of the Gregorian calendar
- 元月 (yuányuè)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Czech leden
- ledenfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Danish januar
- januarfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Dutch januari
- januarifirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Esperanto januaro, Januaro
- januarofirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- Januarofirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Estonian jaanuar
- jaanuarfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Finnish tammikuu
- tammikuufirst month of the Gregorian calendar
French janvier
- janvierfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
German Januar, Jänner
- Januarfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- Jännerfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- Hartungfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Greek Ιανουάριος, Γενάρης
- Ιανουάριος (Ianouários)first month of the Gregorian calendar
- Γενάρης (Genáris)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Hawaiian Ianuali
- Ianualifirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Hebrew יָנוּאָר
- יָנוּאָר (yánuar)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Hindi जनवरी
- जनवरी (janvarī)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Hungarian január
- januárfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Icelandic janúar, janúarmánuður
- janúarfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- janúarmánuðurfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Indonesian Januari
- Januarifirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Irish Eanáir, Mí Eanáir
- Eanáirfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- Mí Eanáirfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Italian gennaio
- gennaiofirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Japanese 一月, 睦月
- 一月 (ichigatsu)first month of the Gregorian calendar
- 睦月 (mutsuki)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Korean 일월, 1월
- 일월 (irwol)first month of the Gregorian calendar
- 1월 (1wol)first month of the Gregorian calendar
- 정월 (jeong'wol)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Latin Iānuārius
- Iānuāriusfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Latvian janvāris
- janvārisfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Lithuanian sausis
- sausisfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Malay Januari
- Januarifirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Māori Kohi-tātea, Hānuere
- Kohi-tāteafirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- Hānuerefirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Norwegian Bokmål januar
- januarfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Polish styczeń
- styczeńfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Portuguese janeiro
- janeirofirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Punjabi ਜਨਵਰੀ
- ਜਨਵਰੀ (janvarī)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Romanian ianuarie, gerar
- ianuariefirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- gerarfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- cărindarfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Russian янва́рь
- янва́рь (janvárʹ)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Scottish Gaelic am Faoilleach
- am Faoilleachfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Slovak január
- januárfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Spanish enero
- enerofirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Swahili Januari
- Januarifirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Swedish januari, torsmånad
- januarifirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- torsmånadfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Tagalog Enero
- Enerofirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Tamil ஜனவரி
- ஜனவரி (jaṉavari)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Thai มกราคม
- มกราคม (má-gà-raa-kom)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Turkish ocak, kânunusani
- ocakfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- kânunusanifirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- büyük ayfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Ukrainian сі́чень
- сі́чень (síčenʹ)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Urdu جَنْوَری
- جَنْوَری (janvarī)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Vietnamese tháng giêng, tháng một
- tháng giêngfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- tháng mộtfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Welsh Ionawr
- Ionawrfirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Yiddish יאַנואַר
- יאַנואַר (yanuar)first month of the Gregorian calendar
Zulu uMasingana class 1a/2a, uJanuwari class 1a/2a
- uMasingana class 1a/2afirst month of the Gregorian calendar
- uJanuwari class 1a/2afirst month of the Gregorian calendar
Cite this entry
January. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/January
“January.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/January. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “January,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/January.
Source: January on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.