What does kalends mean?
Kalends denotes the first day of a month in the ancient Roman calendar, the system of reckoning months and dates that underlies many modern Western calendars. The Romans began the month with the kalends and counted backward to identify the remaining days, a practice preserved in the names of months such as March, May, July, and October. In modern English, “kalends” survives mainly in historical, legal, formal, or literary writing, particularly in expressions such as “the Kalends of March.” It is normally used as a plural noun, including with the definite article: “on the kalends.” Although the Roman calendar was later replaced, the term remains recognizable because the Roman system of date reckoning was inherited by the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The word is therefore especially useful in historical texts, classical studies, and deliberately formal or archaic prose.
nounThe kalends were the first day of a month in the ancient Roman calendar. In English, the term survives mainly in formal or literary expressions such as “the Kalends of March.”
- The first day of a month in the ancient Roman calendar.
"The work was due on the Kalends of April."
"The senate debated the proposal on the Kalends of March."
"In his diary, the scholar noted that payment was due on the kalends of June."
The standard English form is plural and is used with a singular definite article when referring to the first day of a particular month.
"The harvest begins on the Kalends of September."
The Kalends marked the first day of the Roman month, and the Romans famously counted backward from it to name every other date.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of kalends
The English word comes from Latin kalendae, the plural of kalenda, meaning the first day of the month. The term was adopted into medieval Latin and English through the language of the Roman calendar and its ecclesiastical use. English calendar, calendrical, and calendrically belong to the same broad Latin calendrical tradition.
How kalends is actually used
The word is normally plural in English and is chiefly historical, formal, or literary. In dated references, “Kalends” is often capitalized, especially when naming a particular month.