{"id":24287,"date":"2025-11-06T17:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T17:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24287"},"modified":"2025-11-06T21:05:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T21:05:46","slug":"once-in-a-blue-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24287","title":{"rendered":"Once in a Blue Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If something doesn&#8217;t happen very often, you might say that it happens <strong>once in a blue moon<\/strong> English. What about in other languages?<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/merrillie\/46367859664\/in\/photolist-2dDnpfh-2qbgpjf-wKr289-2hdujkk-2jhWA9h-d3tjoJ-FPTBTq-2oZ13qU-XkEwJX-wRavss-2oZ6Dg9-wtm5UL-2oygVMF-2mEQUJQ-hUn2qi-7343Rz-7rNTVq-24FHPFw-d3GnWd-22yPNge-2r81S6G-vRFU86-2mx5kFq-2nGUhGQ-bEP53J-ac5Ymi-D6UGUg-94EnBA-7zpjg8-2ktw7Dv-2dp8cYc-KmXj5J-7Q9vJY-d2Ynxq-2jucK5f-2tkmEP-EpChhH-VuU47N-2jeZ9rX-wMFy5V-bTKYMa-e3rXAF-7tysPn-vQj1nv-Y8ai7E-23TXkj7-fz97bA-vQivUi-22zJRVT-2mfsFzb\" title=\"Blue Moon Daytime Moon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7852\/46367859664_25b2a3e610_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Blue Moon Daytime Moon\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The phrase <strong>once in a blue moon<\/strong> first appeared in first around 1821 and refers to something that happens very rarely, very infrequently or almost never. An alternative version is apparently <strong>once in a purple moon<\/strong> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/once_in_a_blue_moon\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>A blue moon is a second full moon during a calendar month, which happens once every 32 months. A blue moon can also refer to a full moon that appears to be blue and bigger than usual [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theidioms.com\/once-in-a-blue-moon\/\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In (Mandarin) Chinese, the equivalent is <strong>\u5343\u8f7d\u96be\u9022<\/strong> [\u5343\u8f09\u96e3\u9022] (qi\u0101n\u200bz\u01cei\u200bn\u00e1n\u200bf\u00e9ng), which means &#8220;an opportunity difficult to come by even in a thousand years&#8221;. This expression comes from folk tales, in which such rare opportunities might lead to success or life-changing events [<a href=\"https:\/\/dailychineselab.com\/chinese-idiom-stories-qian-zai-nan-feng\/\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In Czech, the equivalent is <strong>jednou za uhersk\u00fd rok <\/strong>, which means &#8216;once in a Hungarian year&#8217;. Apparently this idiom dates from the Turkish wars, when Czech soldiers were hired in Hungary for a certain period of time, which was constantly extended [<a href=\"https:\/\/dailychineselab.com\/chinese-idiom-stories-qian-zai-nan-feng\/\">source<\/a>]. The Slovak equivalent, <strong>raz za uhorsk\u00fd rok<\/strong> (&#8220;once a Hungarian year&#8221;), probably comes from the same roots.<\/p>\n<p>In Polish, they say <strong>raz na ruski rok<\/strong> (&#8220;once in a Ruthenian year&#8221;), which refers to the fact that the Gregorian calendar used by East Slavs has longer months [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/raz_na_ruski_rok#Polish\">source<\/a>]. Alternatively, they say <strong>od wielkiego dzwonu<\/strong> (&#8220;from the big bell&#8221;), which refers to The Sigismund Bell, the largest of the five bells in the Sigismund Tower of Wawel Cathedral in Krak\u00f3w, which is used only on special occasions [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/od_wielkiego_dzwonu#Polish\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p>In French, you might say <strong>tous les trente-six du mois<\/strong> (&#8220;every 36th of the month&#8221;) or <strong>une fois toutes les lunes<\/strong> (&#8220;once every moon&#8221;) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/une_fois_toutes_les_lunes#French\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In German, you could say <strong>alle Jubeljahre<\/strong> (&#8220;every jubilee year&#8221;), which refers to biblical jubliees that come round every 50 years [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/alle_Jubeljahre#German\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In Russian, they say <strong>\u0440\u0430\u0437 \u0432 \u0441\u0442\u043e \u043b\u0435\u0442<\/strong> (&#8220;once every hundred years&#8221;) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/cada_muerte_de_obispo#Spanish\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In Spanish, they say <strong>cada muerte de obispo<\/strong> (&#8220;every death of a bishop&#8221;), or <strong>de Pascuas a Ramos<\/strong> (&#8220;from Easter (Day) til Palm Sunday&#8221;) &#8211; Palm Sunday comes before Easter Day [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/cada_muerte_de_obispo#Spanish\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In Welsh, one equivalent is <strong>unwaith yn y pedwar amser<\/strong> (&#8220;once in the four seasons&#8221;) and another is <strong>unwaith yn y pedwar gwynt<\/strong> (&#8220;once in the four winds&#8221;) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/unwaith_yn_y_pedwar_amser#Welsh\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Are there interesting similar idioms in other languages?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If something doesn&#8217;t happen very often, you might say that it happens once in a blue moon English. What about in other languages? The phrase once in a blue moon first appeared in first around 1821 and refers to something that happens very rarely, very infrequently or almost never. An alternative version is apparently once [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,99,104,111,116,125,10,39,52,60,64,77],"tags":[164,158,355,138,281,520,163],"class_list":["post-24287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chinese","category-czech","category-english","category-french","category-german","category-idioms","category-language","category-polish","category-russian","category-slovak","category-spanish","category-welsh","tag-english","tag-etymology","tag-idioms","tag-language","tag-omniglot","tag-once-in-a-blue-moon","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24287"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24290,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24287\/revisions\/24290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}