puerperium

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UK/ˌpju.əˈpɪə.ɹi.əm/US/ˌpju.ɚˈpɪɹ.i.əm/

noun

The period of time lasting around a month immediately following childbirth, when the mother’s uterus shrinks back to its prepartum state.

OriginLatin puerperium →
UncommonScrabble 16
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Meanings

nounpuerperium (plural puerperia)

plural puerperia

  1. medicineThe period of time lasting around a month immediately following childbirth, when the mother’s uterus shrinks back to its prepartum state.

    As exciting causes, psychic traumata, exposure to cold, the puerperium, excesses, have been brought forward.

    1921, Robert Bing, Charles Lewis Allen, A Textbook of Nervous Diseases: For Students and Practicing Physicians; In Thirty Lectures, page 84

Origin

  1. Latinpuerperium“childbed, childbirth”
  2. Englishpuerperium

Borrowed from Latin puerperium (“childbed, childbirth”), from puerpera (“woman in labor or childbed”) + -ium (nominal suffix), from puerperus (“parturient, bringing forth children”), from puer (“child, boy”) + pariō (“to bring forth, bear”) + -us (adjectival suffix).

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic اَلنِّفَاس
  • اَلنِّفَاس (an-nifās)period of time following childbirth
Chinese Mandarin 產褥期 /产褥期
  • 產褥期 /产褥期 (chǎnrùqī)period of time following childbirth
Czech šestinedělí
  • šestinedělíperiod of time following childbirth
Dutch kraambed
  • kraambedperiod of time following childbirth
Finnish lapsivuodeaika
  • lapsivuodeaikaperiod of time following childbirth
German Wochenbett
  • Wochenbettperiod of time following childbirth
Hungarian gyermekágy
  • gyermekágyperiod of time following childbirth
Icelandic sængurlega
  • sængurlegaperiod of time following childbirth
Polish połóg
  • połógperiod of time following childbirth
Portuguese puerpério
  • puerpérioperiod of time following childbirth
Spanish puerperio
  • puerperioperiod of time following childbirth
Turkish loğusalık
  • loğusalıkperiod of time following childbirth

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with puerperium

Miriammycobacteriumbacteriumdeliriumimperiumdeuteriumcriteriumcorynebacteriumceriummagisteriumcyanobacteriumapteriumarchaebacteriumcollyriumelateriumenterobacteriumferroceriummeitneriumosmeteriumpsalterium
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

puerperium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/puerperium

MLA

“puerperium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/puerperium. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “puerperium,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/puerperium.

Source: puerperium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.