puerperium

English

Etymology

From Latin puerperium (“childbed, childbirth”), noun form of puerperus (“of a woman in labour”), adjectival form of puerpera (“a woman in her childbed”), from puer (“boy”) + pariō (“I bear”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌpuː.ɝˈpiː.ɹi.əm/, /ˌpuː.ɚˈpiː.ɹi.əm/

Noun

puerperium (plural puerperia)

1. (obstetrics) The period of time lasting around a month immediately following childbirth, when the mother’s uterus shrinks back to its prepartum state.
   • 1921, Robert Bing & Charles Lewis Allen, A Textbook of nervous diseases for students and practicing physicians: In Thirty Lectures, p84

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

Related terms

• antepartum
• parous
• postpartum
• puerperal

Translations

period of time following childbirth

• Arabic: النفاس (ar) (al-nifaas)
• Finnish: lapsivuodeaika (fi)

• Spanish: puerperio (es) m