～月
～がつ · ～gatsu · JLPT N5 · noun
year
📅🌙 月 = moon; number + gatsu = that numbered moon of the year
月 is the moon character, and one moon cycle is one month. Japanese names months by number: 一月 (ichi-gatsu) = moon one = January, 二月 = moon two = February. Read it gatsu for named months, getsu for counting durations.
月 — pictograph of crescent moon
月 is a pictograph of a crescent moon, chosen over a full circle to distinguish it from 日 (sun). The inner strokes originally depicted the moon's shadow or markings. As a radical it often relates to the moon, time, or (via a lookalike form of 肉 'flesh') body parts.
～つき · ～tsuki · JLPT N4 · noun
calendar month
🌙 月 = moon; one moon cycle = one month, so tsuki counts months
月 (tsuki) is the word for moon. A month was originally one full cycle of the moon, so the same word counts months. As a suffix with native numbers: hito-tsuki = one month, futa-tsuki = two months. English month also comes from moon.
月 — pictograph of crescent moon
月 is a pictograph of a crescent moon, chosen over a full circle to distinguish it from 日 (sun). The inner strokes originally depicted the moon's shadow or markings. As a radical it often relates to the moon, time, or (via a lookalike form of 肉 'flesh') body parts.