Standard Lemma guide

catamenia

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /kæ.təˈmiː.nɪ.ə/
  • General-American: /kæ.təˈmi.nɪ.ə/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The female menstrual discharge.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: rare, uncountable

Topics: medicine, physiology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Aunt Flo, Aunt Frieda, Aunt Rose, blob, blood sports, Bloody Mary, blowjob week, breaching the beaver dam, catamenia, caught short, Charlie, closed for maintenance, come crook, country cousin, crimson tide, crimson wave, curse, curse of Eve, curse of Tom, dropping clots, entertaining the general, fallen to the Communists, fall off the roof, flowers, flashing the red flag, flying baker, flying the red flag, friend, grandma George, granny, granny grunts, have the painters in, have one's moons, have the rag on, high tide, holy week, illness, in the red tent, Jennie, lady problems, lady time, little sister, menstruation, menstrual period, menstruation period, Monica, monthlies, monthly bill, monthly friend, monthly period, monthly visitor, mooncup time, moontime, mother nature, off games, old faithful, on, on a streak, OTB, on the blob, on the cloth, on the rag, out of order, paddling in scarlet waters, period, poorliness, ragging, red-headed aunt, red-letter day, red sails in the sunset, riding the cotton pony, riding the red river, Rita Red Pants, shark week, so, so-so, squiffy, surfing the crimson tide, surfing the crimson wave, surrendering to the red army, the captain is home, the cardinal is home, the flag is out, the flag is up, the Reds are playing at home, time for an oil change, time of the month, Tom, Tommy, up on blocks, woman's week

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the monthly discharge of blood from the uterus of nonpregnant women from puberty to menopause--Hippocrates--Aristotle

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the women were sickly and subject to excessive menstruation
  • a woman does not take the gout unless her menses be stopped
  • the semen begins to appear in males and to be emitted at the same time of life that the catamenia begin to flow in females

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: menstruation, menses, menstruum, period, flow

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: discharge, emission, expelling

Narrower terms: menorrhagia, hypermenorrhea, oligomenorrhea

History

Etymology

From New Latin catamenia, from Ancient Greek καταμήνια (katamḗnia), the neuter plural of καταμήνιος (katamḗnios, “monthly”), from κατά (katá) + μήν (mḗn, “month”). First attested in 1750.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Portuguese: catamênio — menstruation
  • Portuguese: cataménio — menstruation