menopause

Etymology

It is borrowed from French ménopause,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a term used by C. P. L. de Gardanne in a book of 1821 based on his doctoral thesis of 1812, where he had proposed ménèspausie.^[2] The French word is formed from méno- and pause,^[4][2] from Ancient Greek μήν (mḗn, “month”) and παῦσις (paûsis, “a stopping, ceasing”),^[3][7][5] from παύειν (paúein, “to cause to cease”).^[7][5] Etymonline, following Beekes, calls the Greek verb of uncertain origin, with no certain cognates outside Greek,^[5] and traces the word for month to Proto-Indo-European *mehnes- (“moon, month”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *me- (“to measure”), the moon being the measurer of time.^[5] The American Heritage Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of English give the source as New Latin mēnopausis.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The permanent end of menstruation: 1822, in the Medical Intelligencer.^[2][4][10] Etymonline dates the English word to 1852, with use as a French word in English from 1845,^[5] and Barnhart to 1872.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Before the word was adopted, English spoke of the change of life (1834).^[5] From 1868 it was used, usually with a qualifying word, for the end of menstruation caused by something other than ageing, such as surgery.^[2] An extended and figurative use for a state or period likened to menopause followed from 1899,^[2] including the male menopause, a supposedly similar stage in a man's life.^[11] The verb, to reach menopause, is recorded from 1881, in the Detroit Lancet.^[2]

Timeline

• 1822 – the permanent end of menstruation.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1852, Barnhart to 1872.^[5][3]
• 1868 – with a qualifying word, the end of menstruation from surgery or other causes.^[2]
• 1881 – verb, to reach menopause.^[2]
• 1899 – extended and figurative use.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The natural and permanent end of menstruation, usually between the ages of 45 and 55.^[4][2][6]
2. The period of a woman's life in which this happens, as the ovaries cease to function: Her symptoms began a year before menopause.^[4][11]
3. The end of menstruation from causes other than ageing, such as surgery.^[2]
4. male menopause: a supposed matching stage in a man's life.^[11]
5. (figurative) A state or period thought to resemble menopause.^[2]

Verb

1. To reach menopause, or to have its symptoms.^[2]

Word family

• menopausal
• perimenopause
• male menopause

Related words

• pause
• month
• moon
• menses
• menstruation
• meno-
• menorrhagia

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press