# moonshine

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈmuːnʃaɪn/ · frequency rank #31,661

## Definitions
1. The light of the moon.
2. High-proof alcohol (especially whiskey) that is often, but not always, produced illegally.
3. Smuggled spirits, often with a specific sense; (Kent, Sussex) white brandy; (Yorkshire) gin.
4. Nonsense.
5. A branch of pure mathematics relating the Monster group to an invariant of elliptic functions.
6. A spiced dish of eggs and fried onions.
7. A month.

## Etymology
From Middle English mone schyne, mone-schyne, moone shone; equivalent to moon + shine. Illegally distilled liquor is so named because its manufacture may be conducted without artificial light at night. The verb sense is a back-formation from moonshiner.

## Easily confused with
- **moonstone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/moonshine-vs-moonstone)

## Common misspellings (13)
`mmoonshine`, `monoshine`, `monshine`, `moonhsine`, `moonnshine`, `moonshhine`, `moonshien`, `moonshinne`, `moonshnie`, `moonsihne`, `moonsshine`, `moosnhine`, `omonshine`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/moonshine