man in the moon
Crater pattern personified
The man in the moon is the imagined face or figure seen in the full moon's surface, formed by its dark plains and bright highlands.
The image appears in folklore worldwide, often as a friendly figure watching over Earth.
To say someone doesn't know the man in the moon is to say they're utterly ignorant of something obvious.
Unverified traditional tale
- mythTraditional explanatory tale
- fableMoral tale with animals
- taleSpoken or written narrative
- nursery rhymeTraditional poem for young children
Cain · thorn bush · Sabbath-breaker · banishment · punishment · lantern · bundle of sticks · exile
Head's anterior surface
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- cratersImpact-formed depressions
- mariaDark lunar plains
- perceptionMental interpretation of stimuli
shadows · features · profile · contour · pattern · optical · phenomenon · imagination
legend
Unverified traditional tale
nursery rhyme · Cain · thorn bush · Sabbath-breaker · banishment · punishment · lantern · bundle of sticks · exile · folktale
face
Head's anterior surface
perception · shadows · features · profile · contour · pattern · optical · phenomenon · imagination · recognition
- pareidoliaface on Mars, rock faces, simulacra
- moonlunar, luna, crescent, waxing, waning crescent
- Moon Lorelunar cycle, Luna, Selene, Artemis, Diana
- Space mythsshooting stars, star signs, zodiac, constellations, Halley's Comet