Menstruation Meaning
/ˌmɛnstɹuːˈeɪʃən/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe 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.
nounAn instance of menstruation, the part of each month during which a fertile woman menstruates.
Sentence Examples
Is your menstruation normal?
Menopause is the end of menstruation.
Daniel asked Amanda why she never taught their daughter about menstruation.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The process of ____ involves the shedding of the uterine lining each month.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is important for young girls to receive accurate information about ____ and reproductive health early on.
Word Origin & History
From menstruum + -ation, modelled after Late Latin menstruatio. The word is a cognate with French menstruation, Spanish menstruación, which displaced Old English mōnaþblōd (literally “monthblood”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"It would seem that in Avebury, Stonehenge, and Malta the mystery cult of menstruation/mensuration reached its most consummate development."
— 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 267:
"[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’."
— 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:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The process of ____ involves the shedding of the uterine lining each month.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is important for young girls to receive accurate information about ____ and reproductive health early on.