Etymology

menopause

M3E1N1O1P3A1U1S1E1

Today it means: The period in a woman's life when menstruation becomes irregular and less frequent before eventually stopping altogether, usually accompanied by a range of unpleasant symptoms; the period spanning perimenopause up to postmenopause. Full definition →

French ménopause ← Latin pausa ← Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*med-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*meh₁-?
  3. Proto-Indo-European*mḗh₁n̥s
  4. Proto-Hellenic*méns
  5. Ancient Greekμήν (mḗn)
  6. Frenchméno-
  7. Ancient Greekπαύω (paúō)
  8. Ancient Greekπαῦσις (paûsis)
  9. Latinpausa
  10. Frenchménopause
  11. English todaymenopause

From French ménopause, from Latin menopausis, from Ancient Greek μήν (mḗn, “month”) + παῦσις (paûsis, “pause”). Equivalent to meno- + -pause.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekμήν all →

menologion

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.