menstruation

From menstruum +‎ -ation, modelled after Late Latin menstruatio. The word is cognate with French menstruation, Spanish menstruación,^[1] displaced Old English mōnaþblōd (literally “monthblood”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌmɛnstɹuːˈeɪʃən/, /ˌmɛnstɹʊˈeɪʃən/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌmɛnstɹuˈeɪʃən/, /-stɹəˈweɪ-/, /ˌmɛnˈstɹeɪʃən/ (the latter pronunciation leading to the spelling menstration)

• Audio (General American, longer pronunciation); /ˌmɛnstɹuˈeɪʃən/:

  (file)

• Audio (General American, short pronunciation); /ˌmɛnˈstɹeɪʃən/:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən
• Hyphenation: men‧stru‧a‧tion

menstruation (countable and uncountable, plural menstruations)

1. The periodic discharging of the menses, the flow of blood and cells from the lining of the uterus in unfertilized females of humans and other primates.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 267:

     It would seem that in Avebury, Stonehenge, and Malta the mystery cult of menstruation/mensuration reached its most consummate development.

   • 2002, Annie Potts, “Innerspace”, in The Science/Fiction of Sex: Feminist Deconstruction and the Vocabulares of Heterosex, Hove, East Sussex, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, part 2 (The Vocabularies of Heterosex), page 180:

     [T]he release of semen from the penis predominantly symbolizes a forceful masculine operation, an orgasmic ‘rush’ – ejaculate refers to a sudden happening, an ejection – while the ‘loss’ of blood during menstruation is viewed as a more or less passive occurrence. Even the metaphors employed to depict these two aspects of corporeality serve to situate them on differently gendered poles. Man ‘spoofs off’ or ‘shoots his load’, while woman ‘gets her visitor’, ‘has got her monthly’.

2. An instance of menstruation, the part of each month during which a fertile woman menstruates.

• menstration (nonstandard, possibly proscribed)

• See Thesaurus:menstruation.

• PMT
• tampon
• sanitary towel

• IPA^(key): /mɛnsdʁuɑˈɕoˀn/, /mɛnsdʁuaˈɕoˀn/

menstruation c (singular definite menstruationen, plural indefinite menstruationer)

1. menstruation

• “menstruation” in Den Danske Ordbog

• Audio:

  (file)

menstruation f (plural menstruations)

1. menstruation; period

   Synonym: règles

• “menstruation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

menstruum +‎ -ation, modelled after Late Latin menstruatio. The word is cognate with French menstruation, English menstruation, Spanish menstruación.

menstruation c

1. menstruation

   Synonym: mens

• menstruera

• menstruation in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• menstruation in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• menstruation in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Svensk MeSH
• Fula Ordboken