Februaryis the second month of the year.  It is also the shortest month.  February was named after the Latin term februum, which means purification, from the purification ritual Februa held on February 15 in the old Roman calendar. 

The Gregorian calendar brought about slight changes to the system for determining which years were leap years and thus contained a 29-day February.  Historical names for February include Solmonath (mud month) and Kale-monath (named for cabbage) as well as Hornung. February starts on the same day of the week as both March and November in common years, and August in leap years.

Having only 28 days in common years, it is the only month of the year that can pass without a single full moon. It is also the only month of the calendar that once every six years and twice every 11 years, will have only four full 7-day weeks. Where the first day of the month starts on a Sunday and the last day ends on a Saturday, this was observed in 2009 and can be traced back 11 years to 1998, another 11 years back to 1987, and 6 years back to 1981; and so on twice 11 years consecutively and once six years either forward into the future or back into the past, unless the pattern is broken by a skipped leap year, but no leap year has been skipped since 1900 and no others will be skipped until 2100. A year of this kind would be a common year starting on Thursday. It cannot happen in a leap year. 2004, which was a leap year, would have observed this format had it been a common year.

• Its birth flower is the Viola and the Primrose
• Its birthstone is the amethyst.