the.com/gibbous
The moon caught mid-bulge, more than half lit but too proud to admit it
means Describing the moon when it's more than half but not fully illuminated, or anything swelling outward in a humped, convex curve.
from From Latin gibbus, meaning 'hump' or 'swelling' — the same root that gave English the older 'gibbosity' for a rounded protuberance. It enters English in the 14th century, first applied to anything humped or bulging (including hunched backs and bellies) before astronomers borrowed it for the moon's swollen, not-quite-full face.
- name origin
- From Latin gibbosus, meaning humpbacked
- two flavors
- Waxing toward full, or waning away
- medical past
- Once described hunched human spines too
- long phase
- Lasts about a week between half and full
waning gibbous moon — the lunar phase between full moon and last quarter, occurring ~7 days after full moon
waxing gibbous moon — the lunar phase between first quarter and full moon, occurring ~7 days before full moon