puerperium
UK /ˌpju.əˈpɪə.ɹi.əm/ · US /ˌpju.ɚˈpɪɹ.i.əm/ noun
Forms puerperia
- noun (obstetrics) The period of time lasting around a month immediately following childbirth, when the mother’s uterus shrinks back to its prepartum state.
Etymology
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).
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “puerperium”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details