Amenorrhoeic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to a medical condition in which a woman stops having menstrual periods, whether temporarily or permanently
2. Describing the absence of menstrual bleeding, a state that can result from pregnancy, hormonal imbalance or other causes
3. Characterized by the lack of menstruation, a condition often linked to stress, illness or changes in hormone levels

Etymology: Amenorrhoeic is a medical adjective built from three parts. The prefix "a-" comes from Ancient Greek and means "without" or "not," so it works like the "un-" in English. "Menorrhoea" joins "men-", the Greek root for month, with "rhoia", meaning a flow, giving "menses" or menstrual flow. The adjective ending "-ic" comes from Latin "-icus" by way of Old French and Middle English. Put together, the word describes what relates to the absence of menstruation. Because the sense is tied to the menstrual flow, the word was built to name a clinical condition rather than being inherited from older speech. It is a modern scientific coinage assembled from classical Greek and Latin materials, so the ancient Greeks themselves would not have recognised it as a single term.

Synonyms: amenorrheic