Hebrew · עברית · Hebrew script, right to left
Months in Hebrew: Gregorian months and the Hebrew calendar months
Hebrew has two sets of month names. The months in Hebrew for the Gregorian calendar are borrowed from European languages, ינואר, yánuar, to דצמבר, detsémber. The months of the Hebrew calendar, תשרי, Tishrei, to אלול, Elul, are ancient names of a lunisolar year.
The months in Hebrew, January to December
The pointed forms and the romanisation are those of Wiktionary's list of the Gregorian months in Hebrew; beneath each is the unpointed spelling, with the variants the site's months table records. The month names are romanised in Wiktionary's Modern Hebrew transliteration, with kh for ח and כ, ts for צ, an apostrophe for a spoken shva or a glottal stop, and an acute accent on the stressed syllable.
| English | Hebrew | Romanisation | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1January | יָנוּאָרינואר · יאנואר | yánuar | |
| 2February | פֶבְּרוּאָרפברואר | fébruar | |
| 3March | מֶרְץמרץ · מרס · מארס | merts | also מַרְס, mars |
| 4April | אַפְּרִילאפריל | apríl | |
| 5May | מַאימאי · מי | may | |
| 6June | יוּנִייוני | yúni | |
| 7July | יוּלִייולי | yúli | |
| 8August | אוֹגוּסְטאוגוסט · אבגוסט | ogúst | |
| 9September | סֶפְּטֶמְבֶּרספטמבר | septémber | |
| 10October | אוֹקְטוֹבֶּראוקטובר | október | |
| 11November | נוֹבֶמְבֶּרנובמבר | novémber | |
| 12December | דֵּצֶמְבֶּרדצמבר | detsémber |
The site's months of the year table romanises some of these names in a scholarly system, febrū'ar or oqṭōber; the two systems spell the same pronunciation.
European names in Hebrew letters
The Gregorian months in Hebrew are loanwords. They were taken from European languages and written in Hebrew letters, so a reader who knows the European names can sound them out: יוני and יולי are yúni and yúli, אוקטובר is október.
Because the names are foreign, their spelling took time to settle. The site's table records ינואר and יאנואר for January, three spellings for March, מרץ, מרס and מארס, and two for May, מאי and מי. Wiktionary gives מֶרְץ, merts, as the main form and מַרְס, mars, as an alternative, and the pointed forms in the table above are its list.
They are written without a capital letter, since the Hebrew script has no capitals. In a date the month follows the day with the preposition ב־, in: 3 במרץ, the third of March.
The months of the Hebrew calendar
The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar: twelve lunar months of 29 or 30 days, with a thirteenth month added in seven years of every nineteen. The order starts with Tishrei, the month of the civil new year.
| Hebrew | Romanisation | Usual English spelling |
|---|---|---|
| תִּשְׁרֵי | tishréy | Tishrei |
| חֶשְׁוָן · חשוון | kheshván | Cheshvan, Marcheshvan |
| כִּסְלֵו | kislév | Kislev |
| טֵבֵת | tevét | Tevet |
| שְׁבָט | sh'vát | Shevat |
| אֲדָר | adár | Adar (Adar I and Adar II in a leap year) |
| נִיסָן | nisán | Nisan |
| אִיָּר · אייר | iyár | Iyar |
| סִיוָן · סיוון | siván | Sivan |
| תַּמּוּז | tamúz | Tammuz |
| אָב | áv | Av |
| אֱלוּל | elúl | Elul |
Hebrew forms and romanisation: Wiktionary's list of the Hebrew calendar months. Month lengths, leap years and the names Adar I and Adar II: Wikipedia, Hebrew calendar.
Tishrei to Elul: how the Hebrew calendar months work
The Hebrew calendar follows both the moon and the sun. Its months are lunar, 29 or 30 days long, so twelve of them make a year of about 354 days. To keep the festivals in their seasons, the calendar adds a whole month in seven years of every nineteen, the cycle Hebrew calls machzor katan. In those leap years the twelfth month is doubled into Adar I and Adar II, in Hebrew Adar Aleph and Adar Bet.
The year has more than one beginning. Rosh Hashanah, the first of Tishrei, is the civil new year and the day the year number changes. The first of Nisan is the new year for months and festivals, and the Torah therefore describes Passover, on 15 Nisan, as falling in the first month, while Rosh Hashanah falls in the seventh. Wikipedia's article on the Hebrew calendar quotes the Mishnah on the four new years.
According to the Wikipedia article on the Hebrew calendar, the Jewish people adopted the Babylonian month names during the Babylonian captivity; before it, the Bible mostly numbers the months. Some of the names are shared with neighbouring languages. The site's Arabic months table lists نيسان, تموز, آب and أيلول for April, July, August and September in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq: Nisan, Tammuz, Av and Elul with Gregorian meanings. The months in other calendars page sets the Hebrew calendar beside the Islamic, Persian and other calendars.
Writing a date in both calendars
Everyday life in Israel runs on the Gregorian calendar, and dates are written in figures: day, month, year. The Hebrew calendar sets the festivals and the Sabbath, and its dates are written with Hebrew letter numerals.
The Wikipedia article on Hebrew numerals gives the pattern with real examples. Monday, 15 Adar 5764 is יום שני ט״ו באדר תשס״ד: the day of the month in letters, ט״ו for 15, the month with ב־, and the year with the thousands left out, תשס״ד for 764. Written in full, the year carries the thousands as well: ה׳תשס״ד. The year 5786, which ran from autumn 2025 to autumn 2026, is תשפ״ו.
Between the two calendars the year numbers differ by 3,760 or 3,761 depending on the season, since the Hebrew year begins in the autumn: autumn 2025 to autumn 2026 is 5786. Fifteen is written ט״ו, nine and six, not י״ה, ten and five, because that pair of letters spells a form of the divine name. The numbers in Hebrew page explains the letter values and the two marks, geresh and gershayim, that show a word is a number.
Questions about the months in Hebrew
What are the months in Hebrew?
For the Gregorian calendar: ינואר, פברואר, מרץ, אפריל, מאי, יוני, יולי, אוגוסט, ספטמבר, אוקטובר, נובמבר, דצמבר. The months in Hebrew for the Jewish calendar are Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, Adar, Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av and Elul.
Which Hebrew month is the first?
It depends on the count. Tishrei, with Rosh Hashanah, starts the civil year; Nisan is the first month for the festivals and is called the first month in the Torah.
What is Adar II?
The extra month of a Hebrew leap year. In seven years of every nineteen, Adar is doubled into Adar I and Adar II so that the festivals keep their seasons.
How do you write March in Hebrew?
Usually מרץ, merts. The spellings מרס and מארס are also found.