moonhood

English

Etymology

moon +‎ -hood

Noun

moonhood (uncountable)

1. The state or quality of being a moon.
   • 2000 September 28, “Pluto plus tard”, in The Economist:

     Calling Charon a moon, rather than a junior partner in a coalition, is thus stretching the definition of moonhood.

   • 2001, Mercury, volume 30, page 82:

     Although they deserve moonhood every bit as much as their larger cousins, irregular satellites continue to puzzle planetary scientists.

   • 2005 October 6, Robert Young, Paul Wallace, “Keep an eye towards the sky: Cedartown stargazers' journal”, in The Cedartown Standard, page 4B:

     In fact, some of the smaller of the moons of Jupiter's 63 known moons may have taken this path to moonhood.