honeymoon means the period of time immediately following a marriage. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 76 out of 100.
honeymoon is pronounced /ˈhʌn.iˌmuːn/.
Why “honeymoon” is a great word
HONEYMOON — [Noun] A vacation or period of seclusion taken by a couple immediately after marriage. From honey (sweetness) + moon (calendar month), originally referring to the first month after marriage, with the earliest attestation 'hony moone' from the 1540s suggesting affection might wane like the moon; later sense became fixed on the initial sweet period. Unlike a 'wedding,' the singular ceremony, or a 'sabbatical,' a professional hiatus, a honeymoon is the liminal, curated commencement of a shared life. It is the clinking of glasses in a foreign café, the unfamiliar scent of a rented bed, and the suitcase left unpacked in a corner—a fragile, gilded idyll borrowed from the relentless calendar.
Etymology
From earlier hony moone, originally denoting the period of time following a wedding, equivalent to honey + moon. The original reference was to affection waning like the moon, but later the sense became "the first month, or moon after marriage", which tends to be the sweetest.
Compare Middle Low German suckermânt (“honeymoon”, literally “sugar-month”), German Low German Hönnigweken (“honeymoon”, literally “honey-weeks”). The German Honigmond (literally “honey-moon”) is a calque of French lune de miel, itself a calque of the English term.
noun
- The period of time immediately following a marriage.“The new minister and his wife were a young, pleasant-faced couple, still on their honeymoon, and full of all good and beautiful enthusiasms for their chosen lifework.”
- A trip taken by a newly married couple during this period.“We went to Greece for our honeymoon.”
- A period of goodwill at the beginning of a new term or relationship (e.g. towards a newly elected politician or in respect of a new business arrangement).“Now that the honeymoon is over, it’s time for us to get down to the business at hand.”
verb
- To have a honeymoon (a trip taken by a couple after wedding).“My parents honeymooned at Niagara falls.”