menstrual

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English menstrual, also menstruel,^[2] borrowed from Middle French menstruel (recorded in Old French about 1268) and directly borrowed from Latin mēnstruālis (“monthly; having monthly courses”),^[3][4][5][2] from mēnstruus (“of a month, monthly”),^[4][5][6] from mēnsis (“month”).^[4][5][7] The Latin word for month is a close relative of month and moon,^[7][4] and the American Heritage Dictionary traces it to the root Proto-Indo-European *mē-.^[8] Merriam-Webster derives it instead from mēnstrua (“the menses”), the neuter plural of the adjective.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the blood discharged from the womb at monthly intervals: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus' De Proprietatibus Rerum.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was used in medical writing for a woman able to menstruate and for the menstrual flow, as in menstrual blood and menstrual flux.^[2] From 1594 it also had the general sense "monthly, happening once a month",^[3][4] occasionally in astronomy;^[4] Johnson (1755) gave that sense first.^[10] It is now rare or archaic.^[3][9] In alchemy, menstrual meant relating to a menstruum from before 1550,^[3] and as a noun it named the menstruum itself.^[2][3] The botanical sense "lasting a month", of a flower, is recorded from 1866.^[3][9] The phrase menstrual cycle names the cycle of ovulation and menstruation.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1398 – relating to the blood of menstruation.^[3][5]
• before 1550 – in alchemy, of the nature of a menstruum (obsolete).^[3]
• 1594 – monthly, happening once a month.^[3]
• 1596 – of a woman, menstruating.^[3]
• 1866 – in botany, of a flower lasting a month.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to menstruation or the menses: menstrual cramps.^[11][9][3]
2. (archaic) Happening once a month; monthly.^[9][3][10]
3. (archaic) Lasting for a month.^[9][3]

Word family

• menstrually
• intermenstrual
• postmenstrual
• premenstrual
• menstrual cycle

Related words

• menstruation
• menstruous
• menstruum
• menses
• menstruate
• month
• moon
• semester
• menopause

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins