menstruous

From Anglo-Norman menstruus, Middle French menstrueus, and their source, Late Latin menstruosus (“menstruating”), from Latin mēnstruum.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛnstɹʊəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛnstɹʊəs/

menstruous (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to menstruation; menstrual.
2. (of a female) Currently undergoing menstruation.
   • 1611, King James Version, 2 Esdras 5:8:

     There shall be a confusion also in many places, and the fire shall be oft sent out again, and the wild beasts shall change their places, and menstruous women shall bring forth monsters:

   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970:

     , New York, 2001, p.213:

     Foolish, drunken, or hairbrain women most part bring forth children like unto themslves, morosus et languidos, and so likewise he that lies with a menstruous woman.

3. (obsolete) Monthly.

• menstrual
• catamenial
• mensal

• menstruous in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• menstruous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “menstruous” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.