gibbous

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gibbous

/ˈɡɪbəs/
/ˈd͡ʒɪbəs/

Rhymes with -ɪbəs

Where it comes from

From Middle English gibbous, from Latin gibbus (“humped, hunched”), probably cognate with cubō (“bend oneself, lie down”), Italian gobba (“humpback”), Ancient Greek κῡφός (kūphós, “humpback, bent”), κύβος (kúbos, “cube, vertebra”), Spanish giboso (“humped”). Also ultimately compare dialectal Norwegian keiv (“slanted, wrong”), German schief (“crooked, slanting”) and Dutch scheef (“crooked, slanting”).

adjective more gibbous · most gibbous

Curved or bulged outward. In fact, what these gibbous human shapes specially represented was ready money—money insistently ready [...]
of a celestial body Having more than half (but not the whole) of its disc illuminated. The moving moon, full, gibbous, or crescent-shaped, shone at last for the navigators of the eighteenth century like a luminous hand on the clock of heaven.
Humpbacked. A pointed flinty rock, all bare and black, Grew gibbous from behind the mountain's back;

Thesaurus

adjective

Translations

Every language

adj characterized by convexity; protuberant

Español	gibado
Português	giboso
Français	gibbeux
Deutsch	gewölbt
Ελληνικά	αμφίκυρτος amfíkyrtos
Русский	выпуклый vypuklyj, выступающий vystupajuščij

adj phase of moon or planet

Español	giboso
Português	giboso
Français	gibbeux
Deutsch	dreiviertel
Italiano	gibboso
Ελληνικά	αμφίκυρτος amfíkyrtos
Русский	освещённый более, чем на половину osveščónnyj boleje, čem na polovinu

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MLA

"gibbous." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gibbous. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

gibbous. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gibbous

Chicago

"gibbous." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gibbous.

BibTeX

@misc{gibbous_2026,
  title = {gibbous},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gibbous},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}